Germany mounts resistance against int'l rivals in battery production

Source: Xinhua| 2017-08-03 22:52:08|Editor: yan
Video PlayerClose

BERLIN, Aug. 3 (Xinhua) -- Seventeen German companies are to announce the site of a new lithium-ion battery plant, Bloomberg reported on Thursday.

The group, led by former ThyssenKrupp AG manager Holger Gritzka, has formed the company Terra E Holding GmbH in a bid to break the dominance of Korean companies LG and Samsung in the electricity storage market.

The project has won the backing of the German government and will begin in late 2019 and reach full capacity in 2028, according to Gritzka.

The plans underline the German automotive industry's desire to re-orient itself towards cleaner technologies in the wake of the global "dieselgate" scandal. Lithium-ion batteries are crucial to electric mobility as well as offering a means to stabilize intermittent flows of wind and solar power on electricity networks.

Millions of cars manufactured in Germany are projected to be powered by such batteries.

"We have to be better in process technology than competitors, a constant step ahead," Gritzka told Bloomberg.

The project was awarded 5.2 million euros (6.16 million U.S. dollars) in subsidies from the German ministry of education and research. More than a billion euros in total are needed to complete the plant.

Gritzka said he hoped German Chancellor Angela Merkel's endorsement of the company and government subsidies for research would lure strategic investors.

TOP STORIES
EDITOR’S CHOICE
MOST VIEWED
EXPLORE XINHUANET
010020070750000000000000011105521364976101