Porsche seeks partners for $3.3bn EV battery plant

Porsche is talking to potential financial and strategic partners to set up an electric-vehicle battery factory that could cost as much as EUR3bn ($3.3bn).

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 Wednesday. The plant will have a capacity of as much as 20 gigawatt-hours.

“It’s important to get energy costs right,” chief financial officer 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 per cent in the first half on lower parts availability.

Chief executive officer 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 AG’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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