Skoda hopes for eastern European gigafactory decision by 2023

MLADA BOLESLAV, Czech Republic -- Skoda is confident that its parent Volkswagen Group will take a decision on its fourth large battery factory in Europe by 2023 at the latest, the brand's production and logistics chief, Michael Oeljeklaus, said.

VW in October said it planned to decide in the first half of 2022 on the location for a planned battery cell plant in eastern Europe, which would be the fourth under its plan to build six such sites across Europe by the end of the decade.

"The decision will be taken in Wolfsburg in Germany," Oeljeklaus said.

"We are hoping and are confident that this decision will be taken in late autumn, maybe next year at the latest ... We are hoping that VW will decide in favor of the Czech Republic."

Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic are all in the running for the eastern European battery factory, to be opened in 2027, VW has said.

Battery pack production line

Skoda has added a battery pack production line at its Mlada Boleslav plant in the Czech Republic.

The line will assemble battery systems for Skoda, VW, Audi and Seat electric cars based on VW Group's MEB platform.

Annual output will start at 250,000 systems rising to 380,000 by 2023, Skoda said in a statement on Tuesday.

The smallest battery pack with eight 24-cell modules has a capacity of 55 kilowatt-hours and the medium version with nine modules stores 62 kWh.

The largest battery with 12 modules boasts an 82-kWh capacity.