Volkswagen is putting on hold a planned battery plant in eastern Europe and prioritising a similar facility in North America after estimating it could receive €10bn in US incentives, according to the Financial Times.
The decision is the latest fallout from Joe Biden’s US$369bn package of subsidies and tax incentives for green technology that is luring European companies to the US, the FT said.
Europe’s largest carmaker told EU officials last week that it expected to reap €9bn-€10bn in subsidies and loans from the US president’s Inflation Reduction Act and other US schemes over the lifetime of the factory, according to people at the meeting.
VW was “waiting” to see how the EU would respond to Washington’s incentives before pressing ahead with a plan to build a plant in eastern Europe, said one person with direct knowledge of the decision making at VW.
“Plans in North America have moved forward faster than expected and overtaken decision making in Europe,” the person said.
Commenting on the FT report, a VW spokesperson said today the automaker is still evaluating suitable locations for its next cell factories in Eastern Europe and North America and no decisions have been made yet.
"We stick to our plan to build cell factories for about 240 GWh in Europe by 2030, but for this we need the right framework conditions. That is why we wait and see what the so-called EU Green Deal will bring," VW said on Wednesday.