VARTA opens new lithium-ion cell factory in Germany

The CEO of VARTA AG, Herbert Schein, sees the expansion as an important step in the company's growth strategy and as a contribution to securing Germany as a location for battery technology, a press release reads. The new building in Nördlingen (Germany) comes with a total of 15,000 square meters of production space on two floors. The company now has a production area totalling 60,000 square metres in Nördlingen and the infrastructure for further growth. New customer orders are already running in on-site production. Herbert Schein comments: “We are in a technology competition. If you want to be at the forefront, you always have to present new and better batteries. That is exactly what VARTA does. People want to be independent. They want maximum flexibility – privately as well as professionally. Because of this, innovations for mobile, reliable energy are required. VARTA supplies them in the form of high-performance lithium-ion cells for a wide range of applications.” Schein emphasised that the political will and the vision to keep innovation and technology in Europe, in Germany, are needed. “Today, the battery is the strategic component of the future. It was a political decision at the highest level to promote research and the expansion of battery technology in Europe. And it was the right decision." In Nördlingen, VARTA mainly produces the small lithium-ion cells that are used, for example, in Premium True Wireless Stereo Headsets (TWS). These cells, called CoinPower, enable applications such as noise cancelling or voice control to be integrated into Bluetooth headsets that can be worn wirelessly in the ear. With the ultra-high-performance cell called V4Drive, the company has just presented a product that can be used in the home & garden and automotive sectors. Production of this cell on a pilot line in Ellwangen will start at the end of the year.