Volvo will not build a new battery factory in Ghent – Image and sound – News

Car manufacturer Volvo will not build a new battery factory on its sites in Ghent. The top of the company confirmed this to Belgian media. No motivation for the decision was communicated or disclosed where a new battery factory would be built.

The end of October Flemish Prime Minister Jan Jambon traveled to Sweden to visit the top of the company. There he reportedly wanted to find out how he could support companies such as Volvo ‘even better in Flanders’. One of the topics of discussion at the time was the construction of a second battery factory on the Volvo sites in Ghent. The top of the company was still considering building a new battery factory there.

But that new factory in Ghent will not be built. That is what the top of Volvo told the Belgian press agency Belga. “We can confirm that Flanders is no longer a candidate in this process,” the board said. He has not yet communicated an official motivation about the decision, but it is known that the carmaker took into account the proximity of suppliers to their factories, the amount of renewable energy available, competitiveness and the presence of enough trained personnel.

Since 2019, the Volvo factories in Ghent have been batteries assembled with battery parts from LG Chem and the Chinese CATL, among others. These parts are used to make battery packs for the XC40 Recharge car and the Volvo C40. Volvo plans to stop marketing fossil fuel cars by 2030.

The Volvo factory sites are located at the North Sea Port, which is the merged port of Ghent and Zeeland. There they react with disappointment: “This is very sad because such a large investment does not come along every year.” The new factory had annual battery packs produce about 300,000 cars and generate 3000 jobs.