FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Volkswagen (DE:VOWG_p) is intensifying talks with Swedish startup Northvolt on plans to jointly build up battery cell production in Salzgitter, near its headquarters in Lower Saxony, one of its board members told a German newspaper.
Volkswagen earlier this month pledged to spend 1 billion euros (£881.4 million) on the project, which it says depends on certain economic pre-conditions, such as subsidised electricity.
In an interview published on Saturday, Volkswagen board member Stefan Sommer told Boersen-Zeitung he was confident that battery cell production in Salzgitter would be realised.
"We will intensify our talks over the next weeks with regard to a more detailed planning," he was quoted as saying, adding Volkswagen was also looking at other locations in Europe for potential battery cell production, not specifying further.