Bitterfeld-Wolfen (dpa/sa) – According to the city administration, the decision against building a battery factory in Bitterfeld-Wolfen did not come out of the blue. The development has been observed for a long time through the constant exchange with the Farasis company, said the head of the city’s economic development department, Steve Bruder, on Monday. Now the urban planning contract has been resolved in agreement with Farasis.
The implementation of the original project – to produce battery cells for Mercedes – was initially obsolete because the required cells were currently being manufactured in China, explained Bruder. Due to the time delay, the two companies decided to produce from China in order to meet the delivery dates. The plants and factories are already there.
Now the city will work with Farasis to see what is to be built in Bitterfeld-Wolfen. One is “optimistic that we will still create a development with Farasis,” said Bruder.
The Mercedes supplier had actually planned to produce battery cells in Bitterfeld-Wolfen from 2022. Around 600 jobs should be created. The location was also to become the Group’s new European headquarters. There had already been reports in the past year that the project was being put to the test. Farasis was founded in California in 2002 and is now based in Ganzhou, China. The company has its German headquarters in Frickenhausen near Esslingen.
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