The German battery cell factory from TerraE is to be produced by the end of 2019
The plans for a German battery cell factory are becoming more and more concrete: TerraE Holding GmbH has expanded its planning activities and founded the subsidiary TerraE Engineering GmbH. A team of engineers is to carry out the planning work here for all future plants of the lithium-ion cell production of the TerraE group , according to the company in a communication. These include site evaluation, site planning, supply chain management, industrialization and research and development. Dresden was chosen as the location.
"With the founding of TerraE Engineering GmbH, we are delighted to be able to build up the team for the planning of infrastructure and technologies for cell manufacturing as scheduled. Dresden is ideally suited, since here competent partners and specialists are to be found. Discussions with the state governments of interested federal states are taking place simultaneously and in a timely manner in order to make the location decision for the production plants ", explains Holger Gritzka, CEO of TerraE Holding GmbH.
TerraE plans to build a large-scale production of lithium-ion cells at two sites in Germany with a capacity of 34 GWh to 2028 - almost exactly as Tesla wants to produce in its battery factory gigafactory . "We will be able to start producing in late 2019," Gritzka said. The TerraE factories are operated as "foundry", which means that the holding company builds and operates the factories, and customers can have lithium-ion cells manufactured there according to their individual specifications. In addition, TerraE will also offer its own standard cell products.
According to the time, TerraE will introduce a completely new production process, in which the coating of the anode and the cathode is thinner than usual. This should save energy and costs. The CO2 backpack of an electric car is thus reduced by half, according to Gritzka, the cost by ten percent.
First, they were not planned to supply car manufacturers. Instead, you have "customers like manufacturers of forklifts, power tools, e-scooters or e-bikes" in the sights, said Gritzka. It is not until 2021 that the automotive industry is to be won as a customer, "if we have proven up to then that we achieve the necessary production capacities and the quality".
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