Kai-Uwe Wollenhaupt, President SVOLT Europe & Vice President SVOLT Energy Technology
SVOLT Europe is expanding its sales focus and has also reassessed its location strategy in this context. Among other things, this is due to the current highly volatile automotive market, the current lack of planning and legal certainty for the construction of production facilities and the fact that an extensive customer project will not be realized as planned. As a result, the Lauchhammer site in Brandenburg will not be realized as planned.
“The automotive market is currently struggling with considerable fluctuations and challenges all over the world, mainly driven by the transformation to electromobility,” says Kai-Uwe Wollenhaupt, President SVOLT Europe & Senior Vice President of SVOLT Energy Technology Company Ltd. “This is leading to some drastic strategy adjustments for some car manufacturers. At SVOLT, in addition to an already low level of planning certainty at various levels – from the threat of international punitive tariffs to market distortions due to lengthy and unevenly distributed subsidies – a significant customer project has now also been lost. Added to this are the renewed discussions about the end of combustion engines in the EU, which are having a counterproductive effect on the planned localization efforts.”
No change in Überherrn in the Saarland. Contrary to reports in the press, there is currently no change in Überherrn. The Überherrn municipal council’s resolution on the statutes is still awaiting approval from the responsible ministry. This means that building law has not yet been created. In addition, legal action against the building project has already been announced as soon as building law has been created. It is therefore currently not possible to predict when final legal certainty will be achieved. However, legal certainty is an essential prerequisite and therefore the decisive basis for planning how to proceed. As soon as there is legal certainty, the next step is the final economic feasibility study. SVOLT Europe estimates that this process will still take some time. It would be pure speculation to provide more precise information on the timeline, as many things are beyond SVOLT Europe’s control and sphere of influence. At the present time, SVOLT Europe has no other direct obligations in Überherrn. Struktur Holding Saar (SHS) is currently responsible for the Linslerfeld.
Expansion of sales focus opens up new perspectives. In addition to the sale of individualized battery systems for electric cars, SVOLT Europe will now also focus on business areas in which standardized batteries and their systems can be used, which are easier to scale and faster to implement. These include traction batteries for commercial vehicles, stationary energy storage systems and their battery cells (so-called Energy Storage Solutions, or ESS for short) and applications in the non-automotive sector. This gives SVOLT Europe a broader base and ensures greater resilience and improved future viability.
In addition to diversifying its own product portfolio, the aim of the sales expansion is to meet the already high demand for high-quality energy storage solutions outside the passenger car sector in a more agile manner. SVOLT’s strong international network guarantees that projects can be implemented quickly. With this broader strategic focus, SVOLT Europe believes it is well positioned to operate optimally in a constantly changing market environment.
“Technological innovations continue to be the foundation of our strategy. In recent years, we have made considerable investments in the research and development of new battery technologies that are suitable for a wide range of applications. In future, we will focus this innovative strength more strongly on business areas from the non-automotive sector,” says Kai-Uwe Wollenhaupt.
