Recently, PowerCo, a battery company under Volkswagen Group, announced that the main construction of its super battery factory located in St. Thomas, Ontario, Canada, has officially begun. This major project, with a total investment of CAD 7 billion (approximately USD 5 billion), is PowerCo's third battery production base globally and its largest single investment project to date. According to the plan, the factory will begin trial production in 2027, and after full completion, its annual production capacity will reach 90 GWh, making it the largest electric vehicle battery manufacturing base in Canada.

PowerCo was officially established in 2022 as the core pillar of Volkswagen Group's comprehensive electrification strategy, accelerating its global battery production capacity layout. In addition to the Canadian Gigafactory, PowerCo has previously built two battery factories in Salzgitter, Germany and Valencia, Spain, each with an annual production capacity of 40GWh. Currently, these projects are steadily progressing and together form PowerCo's battery manufacturing network in Europe.

While vigorously building traditional battery production capacity, PowerCo is also actively laying out next-generation battery technology. In July 2025, the company reached a deep cooperation agreement with QuantumScape, a US solid-state battery startup, and plans to inject $131 million (approximately RMB 940 million) to support its construction of a solid-state battery pilot production line in San Jose, California. According to the non exclusive license agreement signed by both parties, PowerCo can use QuantumScape's innovative technology to produce up to 40GWh of solid-state batteries annually, and reserves the option to further expand production capacity to 80GWh, which is expected to meet the battery needs of approximately 1 million electric vehicles.

This series of strategic investments fully reflects Volkswagen Group's firm commitment to electrification transformation. By establishing independent battery production capacity and synchronously promoting cutting-edge technology research and development, Volkswagen is building an electrification system capability that covers the entire industry chain, providing a solid guarantee for its sustained competitiveness in the global electric vehicle market. The construction of the Canadian Gigafactory will significantly enhance Volkswagen's localization supply capability in the North American market, providing core component support for the localized production of its electric vehicle models. Editor/Yang Beihua