Chinese and European battery companies are entering the European battery market, which has been led by South Korean companies. South Korean companies are only companies that currently have giga (GWh)-class battery plants in Europe; however, Chinese and European companies will also secure GWh-class plants within 1-2 years.
Among the new European battery manufacturers, Northvolt (Sweden), Verkor (France), ACC (France), InoBat Auto (Slovakia), British Volt (UK), Freyr (Norway), Morrow Batteries (Norway), Italvolt (Italy), at least eight companies plan to build GWh electric vehicle battery plants. These plants are expected to be completed from the end of this year to 2024.
Northvolt, Europe's largest battery company, completed the 'NorthvoltEtt' plant in Skellefteå, Sweden, and started commercial production of batteries in the first half of this year. Northvolt is also building a second GWh-class plant in Sweden. It became the first European battery company to supply batteries to auto manufacturers. It is confirmed that Northvolt will supply of batteries to Volkswagen and BMW.
In addition to European companies, South Korean companies such as LG Energy Solution, Samsung SDI, and SK On, as well as Chinese companies, such as CATL, Gotion, EVE, Envision AESC, and S-Volt, are speeding up the construction of GWh plants. CATL, a company with the world's largest battery market share, is building its first overseas plant in Thuringia, Germany, with an annual capacity of 8GWh. Gotion also plans to build its first European battery production plant in Göttingen, Germany. It will renovate the local plant in Germany to have an annual capacity of 18GWh by the end of the year.
The world's No. 1 car sales company, Volkswagen, is actively building battery factories in Europe as well. Volkswagen plans to build six gigafactories with a total production capacity of 240 GWh in Europe in cooperation with its partners. It recently started to build a 40GWh gigafactory in Salzgitter, Germany.
It was confirmed that Volkswagen invested 20 billion euros (about KRW 26,475.4 billion) to secure the gigafactory. Volkswagen is expected to operate a plant in Germany with a capacity of roughly 150 GWh to 170 by 2030.
British Volt is building a 38GWh gigafactory in Northumberland, UK, by 2030. The company strategizes to to secure a total battery production capacity of 100GWh in the UK and Quebec, Canada.
Morrow Batteries is also building a giga battery factory with an annual capacity of 42GWh that can supply about 700,000 electric vehicles in Arendal, Norway. ACC is also building a gigafactory in France since this January. An official from a battery company said, “The meaning of new European battery manufacturers building GWh plants is that they have acquired customers. There will be a positive influence for South Korean companies in Europe once the production bases of European companies complete.”
LG Energy Solutions currently has the largest production scale in Europe with a production capacity of 70GWh at its plant in Poland. SK On plans to expand its Hungarian plant from 18GWh to 48GWh production capacity by the end of the year. Samsung SDI also plans to expand its 30GWh battery plant in Hungary to 50GWh by 2025.
By Staff Reporter Tae-jun Park gaius@etnews.com