Volkswagen's Battery Plant Delays and Production Updates
Volkswagen’s Canadian battery plant slips to 2029, while its German one is already running
September 28, 2026 - 5:28 pm
The Volkswagen assembly plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Credit: Harrison Keely / CC BY 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons (cropped)
Volkswagen’s battery subsidiary PowerCo has delayed its Ontario plant by two years to 2029, and the ID Buzz will skip another American model year, reports InsideEVs. Tariffs and slower than expected demand are behind both delays.
The European plant is already running. PowerCo commissioned Salzgitter on December 17th, producing the first Unified Cells made in Europe with a capacity of up to 20 GWh annually and expandable to 40 GWh—enough for roughly 250,000 cars.
These cells are supplied to a new battery assembly facility at SEAT’s Martorell plant in Spain, where they power the ID Polo, ID Cross, Skoda Epiq, and Cupra Raval. PowerCo is expected to cover about half of the group’s unified cell demand.
Volkswagen’s German plants are outselling petrol and diesel models at home, with orders for electric cars surpassing those for traditional vehicles. Cell production in Valencia, Spain, is scheduled to begin in July 2027, while North America remains a challenge due to tariffs on Mexican plants and the focus on larger vehicles in Tennessee.
Story by Darius Popa
Technology enthusiast and intern at The Next Web, contributing to research-backed content and investigating new technologies and global events.