Chinese EV battery maker SVOLT Energy plans to shut its European operations by January 2025, in a move that clearly points to China’s retreat from the market - and declining EV sales in Europe.
In 2020, SVOLT announced plans to invest €2 billion in two battery plants in Germany’s Saarland, creating up to 2,000 jobs. However, it halted plans for a plant in Lauchhammer [in the German state of Brandenburg] due to losing a key customer and concerns over tariffs and subsidies.
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A lawsuit and local protests have also delayed a planned factory in Ueberherrn [in the German state of Saarland] until 2027. SVOLT's Heusweiler plant [in Saarland], intended to produce battery packs, was set to open in July, but reports suggest the company has now ceased all production in Germany.
Meanwhile, just like in the U.S., the EV market in Europe is cooling. New car sales in the EU dropped 18% in August, with Germany down 28%, according to the European Automobile Manufacturers' Association. EV market share fell 44%, with Chinese brand BYD selling only 218 cars in Germany, or 0.1% of the country's EV sales.
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SVOLT, spun off from Great Wall Motor in 2018, counts Geely Auto, XPeng, and Great Wall among its clients but has struggled financially, reporting a cumulative loss of 4.4 billion yuan ($618 million) from 2019 to 2022.
The company aimed to raise $2.1 billion through a Shanghai IPO in 2022 but abandoned the plan a year later.