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"With these three plants we are covered until 2028," Schmall
said at a press event at the Salzgitter plant, inaugurated last
July.
The Valencia plant, confirmed last year, is due to begin
production in 2026. Volkswagen said last week it was waiting to
hear what Europe's response to the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act
will be before progressing with plans to build further battery
plants in the region.
The carmaker was standardising the structure of its factories to
make production more efficient, Schmall said, describing the
process of building new plants as "copy-paste".
While the structure of the battery cells would also be
standardised, the chemistry of the battery would differ for
different models, Schmall said: Batteries for entry-level models
will use iron phosphate, while medium-level models will have
high manganese content and top models increased silicon content.
With its PowerCo battery unit, Volkswagen wanted to become a
significant player but not the only player in the battery space,
Schmall added, highlighting that 95% of the battery market is
dominated by Asian players like CATL and LG Chem.
(Reporting by Victoria WalderseeEditing by Miranda Murray)
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