2021 - The Year for EMH, page-857

The Czech Republic will favour the purchase of electric cars mainly through tax breaks. It is interested in gigafactory
Hospodářské noviny (Economic Daily), June 23, p.12

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VW boss arrives in summer to discuss gigafactory

The Czech Republic wants to make a major push to build a lithium cell factory, commonly called a gigafactory. According to Zdeněk Petzl of the Association of the Czech Automotive Industry, such plants are the key to ensuring that its sector remains the backbone of the Czech economy.

One could be built by the German concern Volkswagen. Its representatives said in mid-March that the company wants to have its own plants to produce a key component of electric cars. It will open the first in Lower Saxony in 2025, plans another in Western Europe and a third in Central or Eastern Europe. "We don't know yet where it will be: in the Czech Republic, Poland or Slovakia. It depends on how the negotiations with the governments there go," Thomas Schmall, the VW board member responsible for technology, said at the time.

Volkswagen boss Herbert Diess is therefore due to arrive in the Czech Republic in the summer. Minister Karel Havlicek wants to have a Czech offer ready by then with investment incentives and conditions. "We are competing with Poland, Slovakia and Hungary. The decision is to be made in the coming months, weeks. The current government should finish the whole thing, otherwise the whole process will be delayed," he said. According to him, the selection of the location, the connection to the motorway network and the planned high-speed lines are important. Because the interested parties insist that the factory should use clean electricity, the involvement of ČEZ is necessary.

In addition to Volkswagen, Havlíček said the Czech Republic is negotiating with an unspecified South Korean concern. LG, Samsung and SK Innovation have battery cells for electric cars in their portfolio. All of them also supply European car manufacturers and all of them already have plants in Europe, LG in Poland and the other two in Hungary. "We say there doesn't have to be just one gigafactory. And I believe that at least one will be here," Havlicek said. One plant is expected to create 2,500 jobs and an equal number in supply chains.

Meanwhile, local research and development should be involved in the entire project, especially linking it to lithium mining. According to Havlíček, ČEZ has all the necessary permits for this and a trial mining equipment is currently in operation (translation note: "trial mining" - he used a Czech expression where it is not entirely clear what he meant by it). "If it could be linked, it would be the bulls eye of 20 years," says the minister.