These European automotive companies mentioned above don’t want the progress of this key electric vehicle technology to depend solely on decisions made in remote boardrooms where the possibility of control and influence is low. During the next phase, limiting factors such as technology development, pricing, trade wars, Brexit, raw material supply and others will affect output and price formation on the vehicle side. In this situation, the question becomes how to take control?
It’s clear that competition, partnerships and the ability to invent the future can change the picture.
PLM and smart factories characterized by closed-loop manufacturing will become the trump cards in this battery battle. Peter Carlsson, ex-Tesla man and now CEO and founder of the battery company Northvolt, has taken the lead in this with his initiative to build the world’s most modern—and Europe’s largest—battery plant. Siemens Digital Industries and ABB will play key roles in terms of PLM and IT support, manufacturing automation and plant electrification.
”Europe will have at least ten gigafactories in a few years,” said Carlsson, during Siemens’ “Beyond Industry 4.0” event in Stockholm, Sweden. His gigafactory project—based in Sweden, but with branches in Germany and Poland—is one of the strong contenders in the battery battle, and one that has come the furthest. The Northvolt gigafactory is a costly project demanding investments in the neighborhood of $4.5 billion. But between partners and coming customers including Volkswagen, BMW, Scania, Siemens and ABB, the financial resources are secured and the gigafactory is planned to be in full production by 2023.
To read Verdi Ogewell’s article, click on the link below to be directed to our American sister web site, engineering.com:
Northvolt, Siemens, and “a Goddamn Good Digital Twin”
