Voltfang opens ‘Europe’s largest second-life battery factory’
Aachen-based Voltfang, which repurposes electric vehicle (EV) batteries for stationary BESS, has opened what it claims is Europe’s largest factory for second-life battery energy storage.
The company said the fab can be scaled to produce 1 GWh per year of stationary BESS capacity, composed of second-life European EV devices and its Venma energy management system (EMS).
The five-year-old business financed the expanded production capacity with a €15 million Series B fundraising exercise from its investors, led by main backer the Dutch venture capital business Forward.One. Interzero, PT1, Helen Ventures, Daphni, and the Aurum Impact fund backed by the Goldbeck family continued their support for Voltfang with Newberry Investments and logistics company Fiege’s Fiege Ventures coming on board as new investors.
Voltfang plans to manufacture 250 MWh of BESS by next year and said the Venma would be developed to include artificial intelligence functions.
The company has moved into the 6,000 m2 former production halls of Aachen-based EV manufacturer Next.e.GO, in the TRIWO Technopark. The site is near “other innovative local companies such as Cylib, which is also part of the Battery Circle Aachen [the City of Aachen-supported battery company hub]; and Black Semiconductor, a pioneer of the next generation of chip technology,” said Voltfang. Being close to such peers “supports the development of Aachen as a technology hub in the field of battery technology,” the company added.
Voltfang said it produced 5 MWh of systems in 2023 and 20 MWh last year, leaving it a way to go in its ambition to develop “an independent and resilient battery industry in Germany and Europe.”
The manufacturer cited forecasts from research body the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems, which has estimated Germany will need 100 GWh of large-scale battery energy storage capacity by 2030, and 180 GWh by 2045.
From pv magazine Deutschland.
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