Volkswagen and Bosch Group will, however, continue their cooperation to digitize its battery factories.
German companies Bosch and Volkswagen, also called VW, will not go ahead with their planned joint venture to equip battery cell factories. According to a Reuters report, Bosch chief executive officer Stefan Hartung said on Thursday that they are not setting up a joint venture but did not give any reason.
The German multinational automobile maker Volkswagen and its subsidiary PowerCo are sticking to the plan of equipping battery cell factories in the future, without Bosch as a partner. VW’s spokesperson said, as reported by Reuters, that they are in talks with potential partners and will share more information in due course.
Back in January last year, VW and Bosch entered a joint venture to explore the establishment of a European battery equipment solution provider. Volkswagen said at that time that the two companies aimed to integrate battery production systems as well as on-site ramp-up and maintenance support for battery cell and system manufacturers.
It is noteworthy that VW and Bosch are not completely abandoning their partnership and will continue their cooperation to digitize its battery factories. Bosch supplies software for VW’s cell factories, the company’s head of digital Tanja Rueckert said; adding that as speed is key in digitalization, it would be better for Bosch and VW to work together “on a project level than in such a construct.”
Elsewhere, Bosch Group last month agreed to purchase key assets of California-based TSI Semiconductors in a bid to expand its U.S. production of silicon carbide chips for electric vehicles. While the purchase price was undisclosed, Bosch plans to invest $1.5 billion to retool TSI’s chip production facilities in Roseville, California, with the goal of commencing silicon carbide chip production by 2026.
Meanwhile, last month, Volkswagen announced that its battery company PowerCo SE will build its largest gigafactory ever in Canada with an annual production capacity of up to 90 GWh in the final expansion phase. The company expects a planned investment of up to CAD$ 7 billion until 2030, which has the potential to create up to 3,000 highly skilled jobs at the factory and tens of thousands more indirect jobs in the region.
