STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - U.S. electric carmaker Tesla favors Germany as the location for its first European Gigafactory, its chief executive said, in what would be the latest move by an outside firm into the European battery market.
Industry experts expect a green car revolution to boost Europe’s battery market to around 250 billion euros ($290 billion) by 2025. Asian companies including CATL and Samsung have already signed up companies or set up their own European operations, prompting European politicians and business leaders to call for more home-grown investment.
"Germany is a leading choice for Europe. Perhaps on the German-French border makes sense, near the Benelux countries," Tesla's billionaire boss Elon Musk said on Twitter here Tuesday, responding to a public tweet.
Tesla already has operations in Pruem, Germany, which is only 30 kilometers from Belgium, and about 100 kilometers from the French border.
Pruem is the headquarters for Tesla’s Grohmann Engineering division, which specialises in automated manufacturing systems for battery making plants. Grohmann recently built a production line for Tesla’s U.S. battery factory in Reno, Nevada, to speed up production for its Model 3 electric sedan.
In a sign of the strength of Asia’s position in the market, Volkswagen - Europe’s biggest carmaker - recently picked LG Chem, Samsung and China’s Contemporary Amperex Technology Co Ltd (CATL) to deliver $25 billion of batteries.
CATL is also considering an investment in
