Porsche is talking to potential financial and strategic partners to set up an electric-vehicle battery factory that could cost as much as €3bn (R58.7bn).
The luxury-car maker is considering locations close to Germany, the US and Canada and will base its decision mainly on where electricity prices are competitive and renewable energy is available, it said on Wednesday. The plant will have a capacity of as much as 20 gigawatt-hours.
“It’s important to get energy costs right,” CFO Lutz Meschke told reporters.
Porsche, which earlier Wednesday warned that supply-chain issues will persist in the second half, is under pressure to speed up its EV shift after software quirks pushed back key models including the battery-powered Macan. Deliveries of its only fully electric model, the Taycan, declined 5% in the first half on lower parts availability.
CEO Oliver Blume said putting additional battery capacity near Germany may make sense because most of Porsche’s cars are built there. However, the US is increasingly attractive due to lower red tape and aid earmarked in the Inflation Reduction Act, he said.
Porsche owns Cellforce, a venture that’s working on high-performance battery cells, and has already invested in a 1.3 GWh factory in southwestern Germany. It’s also buying cells from third-party suppliers and is working with Volkswagen’s battery unit PowerCo.
“There are a wide range of opportunities when it comes to battery cells due to heavy ramp up for electrification,” Blume said. “We need to be flexible to get the right technology in place.”
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