Porsche Study: Building battery factories offers a great opportunity for German mechanical engineering

More than 200 battery factories are under construction or being planned worldwide – many of them in Europe. They are currently being equipped primarily with production technology from Asia. Chinese machine builders are currently setting the standard as comprehensive suppliers. Only 8% of the high-tech equipment of such factories comes from Europe. This share is too small to have a significant influence on technological development and to create a second cluster for battery technology in Europe. For this, a market share of about 20% would be necessary over the long term. This is evidenced by the analysis of battery experts from Porsche Consulting and VDMA in the recently published study "Battery Manufacturing 2030: Collaborating at Warp Speed." The study (in English) is available for download in our appendix.

Fostering Collaboration

The study presents approaches on how to avoid technological dependency in this future-critical field. After extensive analyses of technology and providers, forecasts from our own market models, and a series of interviews with market participants, it is clear that the collaboration of the involved parties plays a crucial role.

“Only if European mechanical engineers manage to offer integrated factory solutions together will they be able to compete with the competition from Asia,” says Gregor Grandl, Senior Partner at Porsche Consulting and co-author of the study. “Technologically, the European industry is on par, but companies from China are already offering whole battery factories turnkey.”

This reduces interfaces and thus the temporal and financial risk during construction.

50% revenue increase per year possible

The opportunities for machine manufacturers are immense: To maintain even an 8% market share in the battery market during the rapid ramp-up, annual growth rates of 33% would be necessary. To achieve a 20% market share, companies would have to grow faster than the market. Approximately 50% revenue increase per year would be required – and possible. By 2030, the market volume for machine and plant manufacturers in the battery sector alone amounts to around 300 billion euros. Success in this competition would permanently secure Europe's access to the important future technology of batteries and create many jobs.