2 EV battery makers to invest $11 billion on factories in Europe

Europe, home to carmakers such as Volkswagen and BMW, has been trying to lower dependency on Asian countries for batteries that will power green electric cars.

Northvolt, alongside Volkswagen, is the furthest ahead among just a handful of European players paving the way for a home-grown battery industry, with a large chunk of planned capacity in Europe to be owned by Asian players.

The plant by Taiwan's ProLogium would be its first overseas car battery factory.

Both Germany and France had to sweeten the subsidy pot after the United States last year unveiled major tax subsidies to cut carbon emissions to boost domestic manufacturing, giving the battery makers an attractive alternative.

The subsidies for Northvolt, estimated to be around half a billion euros, would be the first provided by Germany from Europe's new 'Temporary Crisis and Transition Framework', adopted in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine and expanded this year to support green transition projects.

The subsidies still need to be approved by the European Commission.

A second plant could also be constructed in parallel elsewhere, a Northvolt spokesperson said, indicating the decision to build in Germany did not exclude the possibility of a further plant in North America.

Foreign and domestic companies have invested in Germany to feed its growing EV industry. CATL, which has been expanding rapidly outside China, is ramping up production of its plant near Erfurt in Germany and BASF is building a battery materials site in Schwarzheide, eastern Germany.

U.S. Microvast, meanwhile, already built a factory in Ludwigsfelde, south of Berlin.

For ProLogium, French President Emmanuel Macron lobbied for the factory to beat out other contestants like Germany and the Netherlands, offering deal sweeteners and competitive power prices, executives from the Taiwanese company said.