Volkswagen has agreed on new joint ventures with its Chinese battery partner Gotion to bring LFP production to Europe. The move must speed up the switch from NMC to cheaper LFP chemistries while complying with the European Commission’s new Made in Europe draft.<\/p>\n
The deal between VW and Gotion reorganizes three projects already under construction into joint ventures. Gotion invests around \u20ac1.1 billion for 49% of PowerCo’s gigafactory near Valencia. This production site remains majority-owned by VW.<\/p>\n
In return, Volkswagen acquires a 49% stake in Gotion’s cell plant in Slovakia and its cathode material factory in Morocco. Gotion retains a majority stake in both. The production is not exclusively tied to cars from the Volkswagen Group, as the partners will also buy and sell jointly across Europe.<\/p>\n
The reorganization doesn\u2019t boost capacity, though, which remains under previous targets. Valencia is now projected at 29.1 GWh per year (well below the 40 GWh PowerCo had long envisioned), and the Slovakian plant at 8.4 GWh, where 20 GWh was originally promised.<\/p>\n
The move must prepare Volkswagen for the switch to cheaper LFP cells. The car maker has few models running on the technology. The ID.3 Neo was the first, and the wave of affordable EVs spawning from the ID. Polo (ID. Cross, Cupra Raval, Skoda Epiq) also features it in the 37 kWh version. Gotion supplies these packs from its Heifei plant in China.<\/p>\n
Volkswagen forecasts LFP’s European market share will climb from roughly 10% today to 40 to 60% by 2030. Europe currently has no relevant LFP production capacity at all.<\/p>\n
That matters because the EU’s Industrial Accelerator Act is set to tie EV subsidies to European-made vehicles and batteries. ACEA, the carmakers’ association, has warned that European cell supply cannot meet demand within the proposed timelines; T&E too wants the European EV value chain boosted. The fact that Gotion is the owner doesn\u2019t come into play. The act only requires local manufacturing.<\/p>\n
So while Volkswagen gets access to a battery chemistry that has readied EV driving for the masses (as the Chinese market has proven), for Gotion, a majority control of a European cell plant and a Moroccan cathode facility is a passport into the EU market that Chinese suppliers are desperately seeking to obtain.<\/p>\n
LFP cells have lower energy density than NMC cells, but they cost far less, last longer, and no longer lag meaningfully on performance. Chinese battery makers have invested heavily in the technology to bring them on par with NMC. They do require a different charging pattern, as they need to be charged to 100% weekly to calibrate them properly.<\/p>\n
Thomas Schmall, VW’s technology board member, calls the deal a breakthrough that makes Volkswagen “the first European automotive manufacturer to cover the entire battery value chain”. The claim is not entirely defensible on paper. Indeed, LFP doesn\u2019t require critical materials sourced from exotic countries where labor rules are debatable. But Stellantis and CATL are building a 50 GWh LFP plant in Zaragoza on the same logic.<\/p>\n
The deal is another example of how European cell manufacturing remains exposed to Asian collaboration, failing to achieve independence in cost and manufacturing complexity. Asian manufacturers back half of Europe\u2019s capacity (673 GWh).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Volkswagen has agreed on new joint ventures with its Chinese battery partner Gotion to bring LFP production to Europe. The move must speed up the switch from NMC to cheaper LFP chemistries while complying with the European Commission’s new Made in Europe draft. The deal between VW and Gotion reorganizes three projects already under construction […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":715,"featured_media":194894,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"{title}\r\n\r\n{excerpt}\r\n\r\n{url}","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[77162,77160,2043,28,16,6,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-194893","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-batteries","category-china","category-energy","category-europe","category-industry","category-technology","category-top-stories-today"],"acf":[],"featured_image_urls_v2":{"full":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newmobility.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/aum_photo_20260929_270542.jpg?fit=2508%2C1672&ssl=1",2508,1672,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newmobility.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/aum_photo_20260929_270542.jpg?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newmobility.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/aum_photo_20260929_270542.jpg?fit=300%2C200&ssl=1",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newmobility.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/aum_photo_20260929_270542.jpg?fit=640%2C427&ssl=1",640,427,true],"large":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newmobility.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/aum_photo_20260929_270542.jpg?fit=640%2C427&ssl=1",640,427,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newmobility.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/aum_photo_20260929_270542.jpg?fit=1536%2C1024&ssl=1",1536,1024,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newmobility.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/aum_photo_20260929_270542.jpg?fit=2048%2C1365&ssl=1",2048,1365,true],"trp-custom-language-flag":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newmobility.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/aum_photo_20260929_270542.jpg?fit=18%2C12&ssl=1",18,12,true],"related-thumb":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newmobility.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/aum_photo_20260929_270542.jpg?resize=640%2C480&ssl=1",640,480,true],"gform-image-choice-sm":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newmobility.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/aum_photo_20260929_270542.jpg?resize=300%2C300&ssl=1",300,300,true],"gform-image-choice-md":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newmobility.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/aum_photo_20260929_270542.jpg?resize=400%2C400&ssl=1",400,400,true],"gform-image-choice-lg":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newmobility.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/aum_photo_20260929_270542.jpg?resize=600%2C600&ssl=1",600,600,true],"mailchimp":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newmobility.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/aum_photo_20260929_270542.jpg?fit=560%2C373&ssl=1",560,373,true],"unipress-phone":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newmobility.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/aum_photo_20260929_270542.jpg?resize=640%2C100&ssl=1",640,100,true],"unipress-tablet":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newmobility.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/aum_photo_20260929_270542.jpg?resize=1536%2C240&ssl=1",1536,240,true],"unipress-tablet-portrait":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newmobility.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/aum_photo_20260929_270542.jpg?resize=1536%2C180&ssl=1",1536,180,true],"unipress-tablet-landscape":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newmobility.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/aum_photo_20260929_270542.jpg?resize=2048%2C180&ssl=1",2048,180,true],"unipress-smartphone":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newmobility.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/aum_photo_20260929_270542.jpg?resize=1080%2C168&ssl=1",1080,168,true],"unipress-wide-screen":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newmobility.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/aum_photo_20260929_270542.jpg?resize=2508%2C180&ssl=1",2508,180,true]},"post_excerpt_stackable_v2":"
Volkswagen has agreed on new joint ventures with its Chinese battery partner Gotion to bring LFP production to Europe. The move must speed up the switch from NMC to cheaper LFP chemistries while complying with the European Commission’s new Made in Europe draft. The deal between VW and Gotion reorganizes three projects already under construction into joint ventures. Gotion invests around \u20ac1.1 billion for 49% of PowerCo’s gigafactory near Valencia. This production site remains majority-owned by VW. No capacity boost In return, Volkswagen acquires a 49% stake in Gotion’s cell plant in Slovakia and its cathode material factory in Morocco.…<\/p>\n","category_list_v2":"Batteries<\/a>, China<\/a>, Energy<\/a>, Europe<\/a>, Industry<\/a>, Technology<\/a>, Top Stories Today<\/a>","author_info_v2":{"name":"Piet Andries","url":"https:\/\/newmobility.news\/en\/author\/piet-andriesgmail-com\/"},"comments_num_v2":"0 comments","yoast_head":"\n