The available data further shows that the “intermediate step” between electromobility and combustion drive, i.e. plug-in hybrid drive technology, is still chosen by a relatively large number of Slovak drivers. During the last year, 2 622 PHEVs were added to our roads. Even more are those Contact online >>
The available data further shows that the “intermediate step” between electromobility and combustion drive, i.e. plug-in hybrid drive technology, is still chosen by a relatively large number of Slovak drivers. During the last year, 2 622 PHEVs were added to our roads. Even more are those that use hybrid drive without the possibility of charging the battery from the grid, 23 998 of them.
Slowly but gradually the turquoise-green license plates issued for electric cars in Slovakia are becoming more a familiar sightin the country''s capital Bratislava. The Slovak government subsidizes the purchase of a new all-electric car with €8,000 ($8,700), and millions are being invested in expanding the charging infrastructure.
In 2021, about one million new cars rolled off production lines in Slovakia —a global record, when measured against the country''s population of 5.4 million. The Slovak automotive industry contributes close to 13% to the country''s gross domestic product (GDP). By comparison, the German auto industrygenerates only about 5% of Germany''s GDP.
Under the European Union''s new mobility strategy, only zero-emission cars will be allowed to be sold from 2035, meaning new vans or cars with combustion engines will be banned in the bloc in a little over a decade.
Slovakia''s automakers begangearing up for the industry shift in 2013, as Germany''s Volkswagen (VW) launched the production of its e-up! compact car in its factory in Bratislava.According to a VW spokespersonthere, a total of 41,500 units of the car were delivered in 2021, while data for 2022 are not yet available.
As the traditional combustion engine still powers most of the cars rolling off VW''s Bratislava factory, the challenges facing future production at the plant are becoming ever more apparent. Electric motors are much simpler to build, and they require fewer parts, less work and ultimately fewer staff. As a result, the Slovak auto industry is facing a painful transition amid the new realities.
"In the worst case, GDP could be 10% lower," says a 2020 study by the Bratislava-based think tank Globsec, which has analyzed the transformation of the automotive sector over the next two decades. Its "best-case scenario" expects the creation of up to 8,000 new jobs, but only if the production of key components such as car batteries is located in the country.
Radovan Durana of the Institute of Economic and Social Studies in Bratislava says Slovakia could be happy that one of the world''s biggest carmakers has chosen the country for producing its cars. "But if Volkswagen decides to make its electric cars in Germany, then we have no choice in Slovakia," the auto analysttold DW.
And, indeed, the auto giant is already manufacturing its ID.3 and ID.4 electric models at its German factory in Zwickau, Saxony, and produces the batteries for its e-up! car in Braunschweig, while e-motors are coming from Kassel, also in Germany.
Durana believes that state subsidies won''t help much in the currentindustry transitionand that it''s know-how that matters more. "They [the carmakers] base their decisions regarding production sites on whether or not they make sense economically," he said, which is why the number of likely suppliers and the qualifications of the people in any specific region are more important. This would be true for the whole auto industry in Eastern Europe, including those inHungary, Poland and the Czech Republic, he added.
At the moment, the government in Bratislava is pinning high hopes on Swedish carmaker Volvo, which recently announced it wants to build a new electric-car factory in Kosice,in eastern Slovakia. About 20% of the €1.2 billion funding for the project will come from the Slovak state. Volvo is planning to produce 250,000 electric vehicles in Kosice from 2026, with the government hoping the new plant will narrow the wealth gap between the poor eastand the richer west of the country.
In the meantime, a lively auto industry startup scene is beginning to thrive in the shadow of the legacy carmakers'' sprawling factories. Homegrown startup InoBat —a manufacturer of special batteries for busses, sports cars and aircraft —is setting up shop in the Voderady industrial park, a half-hour''s drive from Bratislava.
At the time of DW''s visit, workers were pouring a special white floor covering on the screed to prevent electrostatic charging in the huge factory building. Founder and CEO Marian Bocek told DWthat production machines are currently on their way from China. "Batteries are to me what the internet was in the 1990s," Bocek said. They are a "groundbreaking technology" without which the energy transition wouldn''twork, he said."Batteries are the heart of the industrial transformation."
In Voderady, InoBat wants to combine all battery production processes, including a test lab and a recycling plant for used batteries. The facilityis planned to be operational by 2024. It would be the only site in Europe, he said, where all this can be found in one location. The first batteries made by InoBat are scheduled for production in the second quarter of 2023.
Bocek spent a long time of his professional career as an investment banker in the United States. He believeshis home country Slovakia may one day become an innovation cluster for a new European car industry.
"What we have here is a European Shenzen where many auto industry majors are located closely together," said Bocek, referringto the famous Chinese high-tech industrial cluster. The Voderady industrial park is an ideal location, he added, with carmakers such as Jaguar/Landrover or Stellantis located in a distance of not more than 250 miles.
So far, Slovakia''s auto industry is stillbased on the old combustion engine technology. The sprouts of a new era of carmakingare few and far between, and still not strong enough to keep up with industry leaders elsewhere.
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