Microvast completes battery factory in Brandenburg

After a three-month construction period, battery manufacturer Microvast celebrated the topping-out ceremony of its new European headquarters and the production building for Li-ion battery systems in Ludwigsfelde.

Microvast plans to inaugurate its first production line in March 2021 and start supplying battery modules and battery packs to its customers in Europe. “Especially in these challenging times, we are very pleased with the progress of construction,” says Sascha Kelterborn, who is a member of the board of directors of Microvast, Inc. and managing director of Microvast GmbH.

At the Battery Systems plant, Microvast intends to assemble cells produced by its Chinese sister company Microvast Power Systems in China. Initially, the production capacity is to be 1.5 GWh per year, later Ludwigsfelde is to be expanded to up to 6 GWh. Then up to 250 jobs will be created. The company, which was founded in Texas in 2006, has invested around 50 million euros in the first expansion stage, according to its own statements.

For Ludwigsfelde as the location for the European headquarters with the administration, research and development and the attached production building, the “excellent transport connections to major roads and the public transport network in the Berlin-Brandenburg region” played a special role. According to Microvast, this will make access to the metropolitan region and thus to cooperation and the exchange of know-how with research and educational institutions in the entire region easier. Ludwigsfelde is home to, among other things, a Mercedes-Benz Vans plant, as well as logistics centers of Volkswagen and Siemens.

rbb24.de, tagesspiegel.de (both in German)