Porsche Lithium Battery: New Electric Car Factory

1. Controlling the Supply Chain: Porsche’s New Electric Car Battery Factory

Porsche is talking with partners. They want to build an electric car battery factory. The cost might be up to 30 billion euros.

Porsche said on July 26. They are looking at areas near Germany, the US, and Canada. The choice depends on electric costs and renewable energy supplies there. The new factory could make up to 20 GWh of batteries.

Also, on July 26, Porsche shared its financial report for the first half of 2023. Revenue and profit both grew. Revenue went up 14%, reaching 20.43 billion euros. Operating profit grew 10.7%, reaching 3.85 billion euros.

Delivery volume also grew 14.7% compared to last year. But, Porsche’s CFO Lutz Meschke and CEO Oliver Blume both said there are supply chain problems. These issues have hurt the delivery volume of the Taycan, Porsche’s only mass-produced electric car. Whether electric cars can make up 12-14% of sales depends on the supply chain in the second half of the year.

From this, it seems that building a battery factory is one way Porsche is trying to control its supply chain better. This move can help Porsche’s cars transition to electric.

2. Porsche’s Silicon Solution for Longer Lasting Lithium Batteries

In May, news said Porsche was planning battery technology and materials. Carscoops reported that Porsche wants to make an electric car. This car could go more than 807 miles (about 1300 km) on one charge. This car would use a lithium battery, not a solid-state battery.

So how will Porsche make this battery? Carscoops says Porsche thinks improving the material at the negative pole is one way.

Right now, Porsche is developing a silicon material for the negative pole. This can make the battery store 10 times more energy. It can also charge fast. It can go from 5% to 80% charged in 15 minutes.

But, there is one problem with this silicon material. It grows 300% when it takes in lithium. This hurts the battery’s life. So, Porsche is now studying a negative pole material with 80% silicon. They are also adding more nickel to the positive pole material. This can help the battery charge more.

Also, the report says Porsche is developing a solid-state battery. This new battery can store 50% more energy.

3. Porsche’s Lithium Battery Plan: High-Silicon and Solid-State Tech

Porsche lithium battery technology is designed on two ways. They are high-silicon lithium batteries and solid-state batteries. They want more energy and super-fast charging. This will give cars a very long range. But, more range means heavier, costlier batteries. So, battery and car companies are trying to add range without adding weight or cost.

Porsche is a very rich luxury car company. This lets them spend more on research and making things. They have already started investing in these battery techs.

For high-silicon lithium batteries, Porsche put money into a US company last May. The company is Group14 Technologies. Porsche invested 100 million dollars to make silicon for the batteries.

Group14 came from a company called EnerG2. EnerG2 used to make carbon materials. In 2019, Group14 got 18 million dollars from investors. These investors included CATL, Showa Denko, Cabot, and BASF.

Group14 has two factories. One started in April 2021. The other will be in eastern Washington. This was told by the CEO Rick Luebbe last year. Some of the money from the C-round will be used for this.

Group14’s silicon will be used by Cellforce Group. Cellforce is a company made by Porsche and a German company called Customcells Holding. They started in 2021. They plan to make high-performance batteries with silicon. These batteries will be for small series, race cars, and high-performance cars.

Cellforce has a factory in southwest Germany. It can make 1.3 GWh of batteries. They also buy batteries from other places. And they are working with Volkswagen’s battery group, PowerCo.

For solid-state batteries, Volkswagen has been investing in QuantumScape since 2018. Volkswagen is the biggest owner of QuantumScape. They have also made a joint company together. In December 2020, QuantumScape said they solved a problem. They made a solid-state battery with more than 1000 Wh/L energy. They plan to mass-produce these batteries from 2024 to 2025. Volkswagen plans to use these batteries in their cars.

4. Porsche’s Plan for 80% Electric Vehicle Sales by 2030

Porsche’s CEO, Oliver Blume, says, “There are many chances in batteries because cars are going electric. So, we need to learn the right tech.”

Porsche plans to slowly make their cars electric. By 2030, they want 80% of their sales to be electric cars. Besides their only electric car now, the Taycan, Porsche plans to start with the Macan SUV. Then, they’ll do the electric 718 Cayman, Boxster sports car, and Cayenne SUV. But, their iconic 911 will be the only gas car.

Because of this plan, building a new battery factory could be a sign that Porsche is all-in on batteries. But, if it’s true, it’s unknown where Porsche will build it. This is exciting, since their parent company, Volkswagen, has stopped plans to build a factory in Europe and chose Canada.