According to its own statements, the European Union overtook market leader China in investments in battery technology last year. “Three and a half times more investments were made in Europe than in China,” said the Vice President of the EU Commission, Maros Sefcovic, the “Welt am Sonntag”. “We managed to bring 180 billion euros in private equity into the European battery sector.”
According to Sefcovic, the opening of the first factory for cathode material by BASF at the Schwarzheide site in southern Brandenburg next Thursday will close an important gap in the European value chain. About 30 large electric car factories are currently being planned in the EU, “but what we were completely missing was the production of active cathode and anode material,” he said. It is an enormous opportunity that BASF in Lusatia is concentrating on exactly what is missing in battery production capacities in Europe.
The European Court of Auditors warned on Monday that the phase-out of the internal combustion engine, which is planned for 2035, would not be possible without a much faster expansion of battery production. However, Sefcovic still considers the European goals to be achievable. “Our first assessment was that by the end of the decade we should be able to cover 80 to 90 percent of the battery needs of the European car industry and that is still our goal,” the politician told the newspaper.
