German group Varta intends to make an investment of 1 billion euros in a green field plant in Romania for the production of batteries for electric cars

By Jerom Bolt
A senior Romanian government official writes that the German Varta Group, one of the world’s largest manufacturers of automotive, industrial and consumer batteries, is targeting Romania as a location for a battery production unit for electric cars, an investment that will rise at 1 billion euros. Our country could finance certain components of the investment with European funds.
The announcement was made by Roxana Mînzatu, Secretary of State in the Ministry of European Investments and Projects.
“I received the Varta group delegation today. The company targets Romania as a location for a strategic investment of 1 billion euros in a new battery production unit for electric cars. We have set the framework for potential options for financing from European funds for certain components of the investment. The unit will be based on high technology and a well-trained and competitive workforce. The team of the Ministry of European Investments and Projects will provide the task force, coordinated by the Ministry of Economy, with all possible support to facilitate the investor’s decision to opt for Romania “, wrote Roxana Mînzatu.
In early February, Marcel Ciolacu, leader of the lower house of parliament in Bucharest, announced that he had met with VARTA representatives, with whom he spoke about an investment of hundreds of millions of euros.
“We had an extremely good meeting with the representatives of Varta, the world leader in battery production. We talked about an investment of hundreds of millions of euros, only in the first phase, and a lot of jobs. I want the future factory of the German company to be built in Romania as well, like the one in Brasov, which was a success story. I am convinced that we will find all the government support to make together a roadmap that will lead us to a quick and positive decision “, Marcel Ciolacu announced on Facebook.
The German manufacturer Varta Microbattery already owns a local battery factory in Brasov. The company reported in 2020 a turnover of 407 million lei and a net profit of 19.25 million lei, with an average number of 447 employees.
Varta Microbattery received state aid of 25.3 million lei in 2019 for an investment of 50 million lei in expanding production for batteries and hearing aids.
Varta announced in early 2021 that it will launch the production of batteries for electric cars. So far, the German company has mainly produced batteries for household electronics, but has been involved for some time in research for batteries for electric cars, writes electrive.com.
Varta is already known to many players in the electromobility industry – whether it’s the development of large-scale digitized production of large-format battery cells with Fraunhofer IPA and ZSW, or, more recently, the creation of new glass battery separators together. with the University of Bayreuth and Tesla.
However, Varta came into the spotlight primarily with its participation in the European Union’s IPCEI Batteries (“Important Projects of Common European Interest”) program, with grants of € 300 million from the company. the federal government and also by the states of Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg in 2022. According to the report, two-thirds of this amount will be focused on research and development of new cells. The grants, which the European Commission has approved under state aid law, can be drawn by Varta until the end of 2024.