Car manufacturer Porsche is going into the battery business. The company says it plans to open a new factory that will produce high-performance cells through a joint venture with lithium-ion battery developer Customcells.
Porsche invested an undisclosed nine-figure sum in the new joint venture, dubbed Cellforce Group GmbH, executive board member Michael Steiner told reporters in a media briefing ahead of the announcement. The factory also benefited from a €60 million ($71.4 million) investment from the German government and the state of Baden-Württemberg, where it will be located. Chemical company BASF SE was selected to supply the cathode materials.
The batteries will use silicon as the anode material, which Porsche says will significantly boost the energy density and their capacity to withstand high temperatures — critical variables for racing cars, which must be recharged quickly, but challenging in battery production.
For that reason, the factory will be small-scale, at least compared to other automakers such as the 35 gigawatt-hour “gigafactory” capacity at the Tesla and Panasonic joint facility in Sparks, Nevada or even its parent company VW’s plan to bring240 GwH of production to the EU by 2030. Porsche and Customcells’ aim is an annual capacity of 100 megawatt-hours, or around enough batteries for 1,000 vehicles, starting in 2024. The initial workforce is expected to grow from around 13 people to up to 80 by 2025.
The automaker has no declared plans to scale the technology for use in Porsche’s more mainstream lineup of vehicles, Steiner said, though he noted that there may be a chance for higher volume in the future if the company sees a potential to bring down production costs. “In this market, we are looking for special purpose cells for high-end cars and motorsports, and this is not available in the market today.” German auto manufacturers are laying the groundwork for next-gen battery technology so they remain unchallenged in performance as the market continues to move towards electric.
Source: The Verge
