EU battery cell production ‘extremely important’ – Merkel

It is extremely important that the European Union develops its own battery cell production to secure its role in the automotive industry as it shifts to electric mobility, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Tuesday.

“If China is opening the first battery cell production here, then that is nice, in that case battery cells are being made in Europe too.

Merkel said: “But I don’t know whether it was our dream that we cannot do that ourselves in the European Union,”.

“I am still advocating that we develop the strategic ability to produce battery cells too.

“I believe that will be extremely important in the next decades,” she said at an industry conference.

An electric battery is a device consisting of one or more electrochemical cells with external connections provided to power electrical devices such as flashlights, Smartphones and electric cars.