SVOLT will build its second battery factory in Germany

SVOLT belongs to the group of China’s largest battery manufacturers, it sits comfortably among giants like BYD and CATL. The company was initially just a battery division within the Great Wall Motor, but in 2018 it was spun off as a separate business. Now it employs over 12,000 people globally with 3,000 dedicated to R&D and owns well over 500 battery technology related patents.

The company is building its first European factory in Saarland, Germany. This factory will begin battery manufacturing later next year with a planned capacity of 24 GWh. When SVOLT was in planning stages for this factory, the market demand was nowhere near where it is now and the company was forced to make preparations for a second manufacturing facility just to keep up with battery orders.

Former wind turbine factory in Brandenburg has been chosen as a location for the second battery plant. SVOLT is taking the property over from Vestas and will upgrade it to meet the new manufacturing requirements.

Brandenburg is becoming a strategic location for electric car innovation and development. SVOLT has signed a strategic partnership agreement with BASF that focuses on battery materials and recycling. The company will supply Stellantis group as well, both with the batteries made in Germany and China.

SVOLT pioneered the cobalt-free battery cells and was first to introduce the high-speed stacking method in square battery production. The company ranks 6th among the Chinese battery manufacturers with 3.86 GWh of cells manufactured so far this year.

The company has committed €2 billion to development of its two factories in Germany, both will go online towards the end of 2023 and will provide employment for 2,000 people. It plans to achieve 100 GWh production capacity globally by the end of 2025.

Although the company name makes sense in many languages, unfortunately in Dutch it means “starved” as in hunger. The company name raised some eyebrows across Denmark when it was first announced - not the best choice for battery manufacturer. You would expect a multi-billion company to do research before signing off the new name.

Automotive world is full of examples like that - this is why Mitsubishi had to rename its Pajero for Spanish speaking countries.

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