Construction has begun on Volkswagen Group China’s battery system production factory in Hefei in the Anhui province. VW Anhui Components Company is the first battery system plant to be wholly owned by the group in China.
The site will produce 150,000 to 180,000 high-voltage battery systems for Volkswagen Anhui’s all- electric vehicles based on the group’s MEB platform. Located next to the production facilities of Volkswagen Anhui, the new facility will cover an area of more than 45,000m2 .
Thomas Schmall, board member for technology at Volkswagen Group and CEO of VW Group Components, said, “The development and production of battery systems is a crucial step on the way to achieving end-to end responsibility for the battery. Thus, Anhui is an important pillar of our global battery strategy.
“The global strategy leads from vertical integration in the raw material market via building battery plants, as well as cell factories in collaboration with partners – among them the Chinese battery expert Gotion – to second life solutions and recycling.”
VW Group is currently developing three MEB battery manufacturing facilities in Asia, Europe and the USA to meet growing demand for MEB battery systems. The company’s blueprint factory in Braunschweig, Germany, is ready to produce up to 500,000 battery systems a year.
Volkswagen Group China is investing over €140m (US$163m) until 2025 in the Anhui plant and its facilities, with start of production targeted for the second half of 2023.
