In Germany, a battery factory will be built for electric cars

Stand: 06:45 | Reading time: 4 minutes

F In fact, as is agreed in the German car industry, a battery factory in Germany can not rely on. The labor costs are high and the energy, which is particularly needed in the production of battery cells, is also more expensive than in many other European countries. And yet, in the coming years, this will happen in the industrial area of ​​Thuringia: the first German factory for batteries for electric cars

However, BMW, Daimler, Volkswagen or at least one major German supplier such as Bosch or Continental does will not produce cells, but the Chinese group CATL. The Chinese want to invest 240 million euros in the new factory by 2022 and 600 jobs will be created. BMW has, according to Purchasing Director Markus Duesmann at least involved in the investment costs and gets for the first cells for the expected iNext from 2021 slightly cheaper. The amounts that will flow in the future for the battery cells of electric cars are enormous. BMW has agreed with CATL to take batteries of a total value of four billion euros – 1.5 billion euros for Erfurt cells, the rest for Chinese cells.

German suppliers such as Bosch, against the entry in decided the production of battery cells, if deceived? Can we produce economically in Germany? The answer is clear: no. According to the CEO of BMW Duesmann, the fact that CATL still chose the Erfurt site is due to "a combination of goodwill, subsidies and the attractiveness of the Thuringian site". The cost of colonizing the battery factory is still unclear, but industry circles mean that it is a substantial contribution. Duesmann said BMW had also pushed for a location in Germany. Relatively heavy battery cells can be transported only badly over long distances, according to the automaker's production plants should be the production of cells. In the case of BMW, the cells will now be transported from Erfurt to Dingolfing, which is less than 400 kilometers away, where they will be badembled by the Munich automaker into battery modules. These modules must then be transported to Leipzig, where they are installed in the group's electric cars.

However, battery cells for early electric models will come from larger amounts of BMW from China. The electronic version of the X3 will first be produced in China and exported worldwide, as a result, the cells will come from the People's Republic, and the electric mini will contain Chinese cells. BMW CEO Duesmann admitted that the German industry had missed the connection in the production of lithium-ion battery cells and was late. "If now the cell factory comes to Germany, it's first an influx of know-how," said Duesmann. With an added value share of around 60%, batteries are the most expensive element of batteries for future electric cars. Only 40% of value added in storage production remains at BMW. He had "very much regretted" that Bosch had decided not to enter the cell production.

BMW works alongside CATL with Samsung as a cell manufacturer. In the future, a third supplier could also be added, says Duesmann. This is to prevent the Munich-based company from becoming dependent on individual manufacturers. Duesmann has not ruled out that BMW may still enter production in the future – but only when a new technology such as solid-cell lithium-ion technology is expected to replace it.

BMW and CATL want to produce particularly green batteries in Germany. For example, 100% of electricity must come from renewable sources of energy, CATL wants to get about half of the raw materials required in cobalt and nickel by recycling old batteries. Since there are not enough car batteries available for recycling up to now, the materials will come mainly from batteries for cell phones and other electrical devices.

In addition, BMW began to enter into its own cobalt mining supply contracts. The raw material must be supplied to CATL and Samsung cell producers from 2020 onwards. The automaker wants to better control production conditions and to guard against price fluctuations and supply shortages. BMW will need in the future several thousand tons of cobalt a year. In many cobalt mines, particularly in Congo, working children are employed, the conditions under which precious materials are extracted are often extremely poor.