VW partner Gotion High-Tech launches battery production in Germany

Gotion High-Tech, a Chinese battery cell manufacturer and Volkswagen partner, now also builds its battery packs in Göttingen. The first battery products are to be delivered to customers in October.

“Our Göttingen factory’s production line is highly automated, with an overall automation level of nearly 70% and close to 80% in the module assembly stage,” said Ray Chen, vice president of Gotion Global, at the production kick-off.

Formerly Bosch

These battery packs are coming off the production line at the former Bosch plant in Göttingen. Not from Bosch, however, but from battery cell manufacturer and Volkswagen partner Gotion High-Tech, which has started production in its first European factory.

Battery packs for electric cars and commercial vehicles, as well as stationary applications, will be manufactured there. A “large number of orders have already been received from Europe”, the company wrote in its statement. Gotion does not disclose from whom but writes that the first battery packs will be delivered to its customers as early as October.

Extensive collaborations

Gotion has also established collaborations with BASF, ABB, Ebusco, Ficosa, and Idneo, covering various aspects such as battery materials, product development, and the supply of automotive and stationary energy storage products.

Specifically, cooperation with BASF China on projects related to battery materials will be expanded. With  Swedish/Swiss ABB, Gotion will collaborate on research and development to support ABB’s new factories in Europe and the US.

The collaboration with Ebusco will focus on the development and production of battery systems for energy storage, as well as wind and solar energy storage projects.

With Ficosa and Idneo, Gotion plans to collaborate in the areas of smart mobile energy storage and charging vehicles, battery banking, battery recycling, BMS, and Big Data engineering.

Serious growth path

Gotion High-Tech specializes in relatively cheap LFP cells (lithium-iron-phosphate). Volkswagen owns 25,6% of the shares. The company is on an enormous growth trajectory and has commissioned or announced the construction of numerous battery factories, so far primarily in China. By 2025, Gotion wants to reach a global production capacity of 300 GWh per year.

The manufacturer had purchased the above-mentioned Bosch plant in mid-2021. The annual production capacity will be expanded to 20 GWh in four phases. By mid-2024, the company wants to reach 5 GWh. The production value is then estimated at two billion euros, the company informs.

In June, it became also known that Gotion was considering building a large battery cell factory in Morocco. The letter of intent with the Moroccan government talks of an annual capacity of 100 GWh. Apart from that, the battery cell manufacturer also wants to produce in the USA in the near future.