Mercedes is building a $562 million lithium-ion battery manufacturing factory in Germany

Daimler, owner of popular German automobile brand Mercedes-Benz, is preparing a new factory in its hometown. Instead of producing cars, the factory will be dedicated to produce electric car batteries. The 50-acre factory in eastern Germany should be ready by next year and is said to double the company’s battery production capacity. Not only is this an attempt to compete with Tesla’s massive Gigafactory situated in Nevada, Mercedes had recently announced to ship large refrigerator-sized batteries for homes with solar panels to the US. Vivint, which is a solar energy company, will sell and service these batteries, which are already selling in a few countries. The batteries will first head to California by the end of June and offer a maximum capacity of 20 kilowatts per hour. Daimler hasn’t given and projected numbers for the factory but has pledged another $562 million to expand battery production worldwide. German Chancellor Merkel, who visited the site told Reuters, “We need long-term horizons and companies that invest in the future. It is important that electric mobility is ready for the market as quickly as possible. I had been briefed about the latest lithium cells which could allow cars to travel up to 1,000 kilometers (621 miles) without needing to be recharged,”