German carmaker Daimler has started construction on its second lithium-ion battery manufacturing facility in Kamenz, Saxony, eastern Germany. The ground-breaking ceremony was also attended by the German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
The company’s unit Accumotive is investing €500 million ($562.4 million) in the projects. Daimler said production at the new facility will be started in the next years, while the number of its employees will be more than doubled to 1,000 by 2020.
Overall, Daimler has decided to invest approximately €1 billion in the global battery sector. The company claims it has so far assembled 80,000 lithium ion batteries at its existing facility in Kamenz. Daimler is also targeting to offer ten different electric vehicles by 2022.
Meanwhile, Terra E Holding is planning to produce lithium-ion cells in large-scale in Germany. The founders of the new company are BMZ Holding GmbH, the former CEO of Swiss battery manufacturer Leclanché SA, Ulrich Ehmes, and Holger Gritzka, who was a manager at Thyssen Krupp Systems Engineering.
The latter will become the CEO of Terra E. The planned capacity for the factory is 34 GWh by 2028. Where the factory will be located, however, remains undisclosed. The cells will be produced in different formats for the industry and electromobility.
Financing for the project will be secured through partners and financial investors. The project’s required investment, however, was not revealed. Production at the new facility will be based on the results of the Giga-LIB research project. The initiative received the support of the consortium KLiB , which comprises 45 between enterprises and research institutes.