Volvo inaugurates battery assembly line in Belgium
- March 5, 2020
- Posted by: Simon Wait
- Category: Industry News
Volvo Cars inaugurated a brand-new battery assembly line at its Belgian manufacturing plant in Ghent, where it will start building its first fully electric car, the XC40 Recharge P8, later this year.
The inauguration is the latest proof point for Volvo Cars’ electrification strategy and its climate action plan. It aims to reduce its lifecycle carbon footprint per car by 40 per cent between 2018 and 2025, as a first step towards its goal of becoming a climate-neutral company by 2040.
Over the next five years, Volvo Cars will launch a fully electric car every year, as it seeks to make all-electric cars 50 per cent of global sales by 2025, with the rest hybrids. Recharge will be the overarching name for all chargeable Volvos with a fully electric or plug-in hybrid powertrain.
“I am pleased to celebrate this momentous occasion with our employees here in Ghent,” said Geert Bruyneel, head of global production operations. “As the first of our plants to get a battery assembly line, Ghent plays a pioneering role as we continue to prepare our manufacturing network for electrification.”
Ghent is one of two car manufacturing plants operated by Volvo Cars in Europe and has produced Volvos since 1965. At the moment, it employs around 6,500 people.
