The German automaker has made the southern state it’s home for electric vehicle production, and soon, batteries. Recently, the company said construction began on its new battery lab, which will handle testing for EV batteries in the future as part of a $22 million investment for the facility.
VW conducts its battery tests today at similar labs in Germany and China, but the automaker wants to localize the process. Not only will Tennessee be home to EV production, but VW said this year it will also build batteries in the state, too. The new lab will support the entire process as engineers validate the energy storage devices for production cars.
When the EV production and battery production plants finish their construction, the new battery lab will be part of 762,000 square-feet of facilities in Chattanooga, Tennessee. And the facilities themselves will be green, too. VW said they’ll include regenerative load cyclers to dump unneeded energy back into the electrical grid at large when possible.
The EV makeover in Tennessee should start to take shape in 2022 when ID 4 production begins locally. The electric SUV will first start production in Germany and China, with the former supplying US vehicles until US production gets up and running. From there, VW has numerous new EVs in the pipeline for the US, including a reborn Bus.
