Volkswagen’s affordable EV plans have a new Chinese partner

Volkswagen has formed three joint ventures with Gotion to build lithium iron phosphate battery capacity in Europe and Morocco. The deals give Gotion 49% of PowerCo’s Valencia plant (29.1 GWh), 51% of a Slovak cell plant (8.4 GWh) and 51% of a Moroccan cathode plant (100,000 t/yr), while Volkswagen retains 51% of Valencia. The €2.26 B Valencia investment and €480 M each for the other sites aim to boost European production of affordable EV cells.