Frankfurt (AFP)
The automotive giant Volkswagen unveiled on Monday a new facet of its electric ambitions, made up of six battery factories and thousands of charging stations to be established in Europe, in an attempt to overtake Tesla in this crucial market.
The German manufacturer, which wants to become the world leader in electric cars, plans to open "up to six" giant battery factories by 2030.
And to drive the point home, the boss of Volkswagen Herbert Diess does not hesitate to appropriate the term of "gigafactories" popularized by the founder of Tesla Elon Musk for which Mr. Diess does not hide his admiration.
Several projects are already underway: with its partner Northvolt in Sweden, the German group is due to open in 2023 a site for "premium" cells and batteries, used in high-end models, as opposed to standardized cells for others. models.
Northvolt has, in this context, obtained an order of 14 billion dollars from Volkswagen which will also increase its stake in the capital of the company, by 20% currently.
A second plant will be opened in 2025 on a Volkswagen group site in Germany, in Salzgitter (north-west).
The manufacturer with 12 brands will be the only one to operate on this site because it plans to buy back the shares held by Northvolt in the joint venture created in 2019.
The third "factory" will open "in Spain, Portugal or France" by 2026, according to Thomas Schmall, technical director of the group, before another in Eastern Europe, "in the Czech Republic, Poland or Slovakia "in 2027.
Electric "is the only solution to rapidly reduce emissions from mobility," Diess said in the introduction to a conference dubbed "Power Day" - another allusion to the boss of Tesla and his "Battery Day" annual.
The American pioneer is currently having its battery cells manufactured by various suppliers (Panasonic, LG, CATL) but has announced in 2020 that it wants to start producing its own cells.
Tesla is aiming for a total capacity of 100 GWh in 2022 and 3 TWh in 2030. Its "gigafactory" currently under construction in Germany could eventually supply up to 250 GWh and become, according to Mr. Musk, "the largest cell factory. in the world".
- Network of charging stations -
Faced with more restrictive European legislation on CO2 emissions, the share of purely electric cars among Volkswagen sales "will double to almost 60%" in less than 10 years.
The main VW brand wants to achieve by 2030 a share of 70% in Europe and 50% in the United States and China and plans to launch at least one new model per year in this niche.
The first, the ID.3, is expected to exceed sales of the Renault Zoé and the Tesla Model 3 in 2021.
“Battery capacities need to grow in parallel,” said Diess, as Chinese production dominates the market.
In total, the group is investing more than 30 billion euros over several years in this vast electric shift, considered by analysts to be one of the most ambitious in the sector.
The goal is to halve the cost of the battery by relying on a single model, which should power 80% of cars, and allow vast economies of scale, explained the manufacturer.
Ultimately, it is about lowering the price of vehicles and making them "even more attractive to customers", according to Mr. Diess.
Beyond the price, Volkswagen also wants to tackle the second major obstacle to electric mobility with an investment of 400 million euros by 2025 in the European charging network.
The stated goal: to offer some 18,000 fast-charging points with partners, five times more than at present.
Volkswagen has signed partnerships with the British group BP, the Spanish Iberdrola and the Italian company Enel.
"We're going to make charging as easy as refueling," Diess promised.
But these projects come at a cost: Volkswagen announced on Sunday a job-cutting plan that could target up to 5,000 jobs to reduce costs and finance investments.
As forced departures are excluded by a company agreement, the cuts will be made in particular by early retirement.
© 2021 AFP