Volkswagen’s PowerCo forms new partnership to produce battery materials for 2.2M EVs
Volkswagen’s new battery company, PowerCo, announced Monday that it would be forming a joint venture with Umicore to produce battery materials for around 2.2 million EVs. The new joint venture is a significant milestone, establishing one of the first fully integrated auto supply chains as VW looks to ramp up EV sales.
PowerCo is a 100% owned subsidiary of Volkswagen that was established in July 2022 to handle the automaker’s global battery operations. Volkswagen and PowerCo began construction on its battery plant in Salzgitter, Germany, in July – the first of six planned.
As demand for electric vehicles continues soaring in all major auto markets (US, Europe, China, etc.), automakers are scrambling to keep up with demand. Many automakers are already sold out of their popular EV models for the year. With demand only expected to continue accelerating, the key question becomes: Where will automakers source all the materials?
Since the Inflation Reduction Act was passed in August, automakers from around the globe have rushed to secure deals to lock up critical battery materials in North America. For example, Hyundai, Mercedes-Benz, Honda, and Volkswagen (among others) have entered into agreements to source minerals in North America.
Volkswagen’s new JV with Umicore focuses on the automaker’s home market in Europe, where the automaker expects to overtake Tesla in EV sales by 2025, according to a Bloomberg Intelligence report.
The partnership was previously announced in December 2021, but today’s announcement confirms it, giving us a better idea of what we can expect going forward.
Why the Volkswagen Umicore partnership is significant
With Volkswagen’s PowerCo planning for six battery factories in total, it will require a significant amount of minerals to keep up with production.
That being said, Umicore announced in July its plans to build a manufacturing facility in Canada for cathode active battery materials (CAM) and their precursors (pCAM), which are crucial for EV battery performance and one of the most costly components.
The partnership aims for 160 GWh cell capacity per year by 2030, which is enough to power around 2.2 million EVs.
Thomas Schmall, chairman of the supervisory board of PowerCo, talks about how critical cathode material is to EV production, stating:
Cathode material is an indispensable strategic resource for battery production, accounting for roughly fifty percent of overall cell value. Immediate and long-term access to extensive capacity is thus a very clear competitive advantage. We are setting up a sustainable, transparent supply chain with high environmental and social standards, localizing value creation here in Europe.
Volkswagen (PoweCo) and Umicore plan for an equal 50/50 partnership where investments, costs, and profits will be split down the middle. The partners plan to invest about €3 billion (about $2.9 billion) to upgrade its supply chain for superior material production capabilities.
The Umicore partnership looks to give Volkswagen a significant advantage in the European EV market with one of the first fully integrated supply chains, from mining to refining capabilities.
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China just laid out a plan to roll out over 100,000 ultra-fast EV charging stations by 2027 – and they’ll all be open to the public.
The National Development and Reform Commission’s (NDRC) joint notice, issued on Monday, asks local authorities to put together construction plans for highway service areas and prioritize the ones that see 40% or more usage during holiday travel rushes.
The NDRC notes that China’s ultra-fast EV charging infrastructure needs upgrading as more 800V EVs hit the road. Those high-voltage platforms can handle super-fast charging in as little as 10 to 30 minutes, but only if the charging hardware is up to speed.
China had 31.4 million EVs on the road at the end of 2024 – nearly 9% of the country’s total vehicle fleet. But charging access is still catching up. As of May 2025, there were 14.4 million charging points, or roughly 1 for every 2.2 EVs.
To keep the grid running smoothly, China wants new chargers to be smart, with dynamic pricing to incentivize off-peak charging and solar and storage to power the charging stations.
To make the business side work, the government is pushing for 10-year leases for charging station operators, and it’s backing the buildout with local government bonds.
The NDRC emphasized that the DC fast chargers built will be open to the public. This is a big deal because a lot of fast chargers in China aren’t. For example, BYD’s new megawatt chargers aren’t open to third-party vehicles.
As of September 2024, China had expanded its charging infrastructure to 11.4 million EV chargers, but only 3.3 million were public.
Read more: California now has nearly 50% more EV chargers than gas nozzles
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Tesla is starting to experience some consequences for misleading Full Self Driving customers – at least that’s the finding of one arbitration ruling that has Tesla refunding one customer $10,000 plus legal fees for failing to deliver on their promises. Find out more on today’s legally challenging episode of Quick Charge!
An arbitration “court” found that Tesla misled customers with its Full Self Driving product, and has now been forced to refund at least one person’s $10,000 payment (plus legal fees) for the not-quite autonomous driving software. France, too, is piling on claims of deceptive business practices – but there’s some good news for FSD fans! If you’re still willing to pay for it, Tesla will thrown in 0% financing on a brand new Cybertruck.
Check out the relevant links, below, to learn more.
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Your personalized solar quotes are easy to compare online and you’ll get access to unbiased Energy Advisors to help you every step of the way. Get started here.
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