VDMA, the Mechanical Engineering Industry Association, wants better rules from the government so that the battery cells industry can compete with sometimes highly subsidized competition from Asia.
The Mechanical Engineering Industry Association says that while mechanical engineering from Asia is becoming more and more important in Europe, European industry is at risk of falling behind. Europe can only stay in the race for the best production technology and show off its technological skills if politicians set the proper rules and everyone in the industry works together.
Currently, Chinese machine and plant manufacturers have an advantage because they have a lot of experience with large-scale production and can quickly build new battery cell factories. However, politicians in Germany and Europe need to know that if Europe does not change the way things work, the competitors will keep getting more and more out in front. To this end, the industry group sees the introduction of a European tool against companies from other countries that are getting help as a significant first step in European politics. The goal must be to stop people from competing against each other.
Gregor Grandl, from Porsche Consulting, says that "technologically, European mechanical and plant engineering is in a good place." What is missing is a single source that makes all of the battery cells. So we think that new opportunities need to be made here to work together to solve structural problems and take advantage of the potential of this industry of the future for Europe as a place to live and do business.
This is partly because of Europe's high-tech skills and the ability to make and improve mechanical and plant engineering more efficient and unique. However, getting a whole production line for battery cells from one source is precarious and time-consuming because there are so many different companies and specializations. The risk of paying in advance or taking responsibility for a whole line of production going down is too high, especially for small and medium-sized businesses.
Politics should help people.
According to the association, politicians should help by setting financial incentives, developing tools to reduce risk, and securing planning. Hartmut Rauen, the Deputy General Manager of the VDMA, says that "degradative depreciation options and more tax research subsidies can help the location." However, when it comes to interoperability and intelligently networked production, mechanical engineering needs to get even better at these things, too. In addition, rules on sustainability can make a company more competitive, as long as they are not too bureaucratic.
You also need "courage, the courage to take risks, and the courage to break new ground." This is the only way to deal with future challenges when making batteries. The country can not compete with other countries if it has old structures.
In contrast to small and medium-sized businesses, large corporations want to make things happen. The VDMA says that large corporations want to make things happen. For example, in the last few days, both Volkswagen and Bosch said they planned to set up a joint European supplier for battery cell factories in Europe. Integrated battery production systems are what the companies want to offer. In addition, they want to help battery cell and system manufacturers with ramp-up and on-site maintenance.
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