Porsche stops Cellforce: 280 jobs in Baden-Württemberg at risk!

Porsche stops Cellforce: 280 jobs in Baden-Württemberg at risk!

A shocking turn of events for the automotive industry in Germany: Porsche announces the end of the Cellforce battery cell project in Baden-Württemberg. As of today, 280 jobs are affected, including the position of logistics employee Sebastian Rohloff. The company founded Cellforce in 2021 with the aim of developing battery cells for electric vehicles in Germany. But now inadequate market developments, especially with regard to China and the USA, are forcing Porsche to change its strategy. Instead of relying on its own production, the company wants to focus on cell and system development. This is reported by Tagesschau.

Porsche plans to provide affected employees with details of the job cuts by Thursday. The decision to end the project is no coincidence: the location in Kirchentellinsfurt was intended to serve as a “start-up factory”, but expectations of market stability do not appear to have been met. At a time when demand for electric vehicles is increasing, German manufacturers like Porsche are facing challenges, particularly from overproduction from abroad.

Government support and challenges

But how did this situation come about? For Cellforce, Porsche received state funding of around 14 million euros from Baden-Württemberg and a total of 56.7 million euros from state and federal funds. This raises questions about how the federal government can implement its goals regarding strengthening battery cell production in Germany. According to n-tv, the Federal Ministry of Economics may see Cellforce facing closure. However, an official announcement from Porsche is still pending. At the same time, affected municipalities and the Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Baden-Württemberg have already sent a letter to the Federal Chancellor to demand state aid for Cellforce.

The difficulties in setting up your own battery cell production in Germany are great. High energy prices and the availability of raw materials, especially for lithium-ion batteries, continue to be major challenges. Helmut Ehrenberg from KIT points out that the dependence on imported materials is a significant problem. He calls for a greater focus on recycling batteries to reduce such dependencies.

European battery cell production and future prospects

The federal government has set itself the goal of securing industrial sovereignty and competitiveness in the field of battery cell production in the long term. To achieve this goal, Germany works closely with other EU member states. As the Federal Ministry of Economics reports, twelve European countries have launched joint battery innovations and investments. The so-called IPCEIs (Important Projects of Common European Interest) are intended to support projects that cover the entire battery value chain, from raw material extraction to recycling.

The first IPCEI, approved by the EU Commission, already has a total funding amount of 3.2 billion euros. Well-known companies such as BASF, BMW and Opel are on board and are working on innovative solutions in the field of batteries. And Cellforce is also part of another IPCEI, which is planned until 2029. Research is being carried out here on high-performance battery cells, but the question remains whether these projects will receive sufficient support given current developments.

Overall, the German automotive industry is at a critical point. While the demand for electric vehicles is increasing, the challenges in own production and the availability of raw materials should not be underestimated. It remains to be seen how the situation will develop and what new approaches will be pursued to reduce dependencies and strengthen production.