Top Investments 2022 in Lower Saxony

Lower Saxony is strengthening its position in battery production through the investment of Gotion High-Tech Co Ltd in Göttingen and Volkswagen in Salzgitter

February 2023

Chinese battery maker Gotion High-Tech Co Ltd, based in Hefei, Anhui province, took possession of its first plant in Europe at an opening ceremony in June 2022. The company has also opened its first European headquarters in Göttingen and is expected to start up its first production line in September 2023.

Battery production will initially start in the existing plant and will officially go into operation in September 2023 with an annual capacity of 3.5 GWh. Later, an annual production of 6 GWh is targeted at the brownfield production facility and 12 GWh at the greenfield production facility.

As Dr Ahmet Toptas, head of the Göttingen plant, announced a research and development team will also be based at the new location.

© Gotion

In July 2022, the Volkswagen Group also started building its first gigafactory for battery cell production in Salzgitter. The company will invest 2 billion Euros here. Salzgitter is to become a standard factory, based on which further battery cell production facilities are to be set up in Europe.

The Chinese cell manufacturer Gotion is also supporting the construction and operation of the factory in Salzgitter as a technology partner for the development and industrialization of the first generation of unit cells. Volkswagen has invested a good billion in Gotion and is the largest shareholder with 26%.

Volkswagen’s battery division is combined in an independent European joint-stock company “PowerCo”. The group’s goal is to keep the entire value chain in its own hands, from the procurement of raw materials to battery recycling. This creates the crystallization core of the Lower Saxony battery industry, which is flanked by an excellent research network.