Porsche scraps Cellforce battery plans

PORSCHE has scrapped plans to manufacture high-performance EV batteries at its Cellforce division citing slowing demand for electric vehicles and changed conditions in China and the United States.

According to a statement issued this week, the decision will see 200 Cellforce staff made redundant, compromising European efforts to challenge China’s dominance in automotive battery manufacturing.

Cellforce will instead pivot to become an independent research and development unit, Porsche said on Monday.

“Porsche is one of the most successful traditional car manufacturers in the transformation to electric mobility. In the first half of 2025, 57 per cent of the vehicles delivered in Europe were electrified, compared to a global electric quota of 36 per cent,” said Porsche chief executive officer Oliver Blume.

“However, due to challenging conditions, particularly in our main markets of the USA and the not yet developed Chinese electric luxury segment, we are reorganising our battery activities and focusing on cell and system development.

“For volume reasons and a lack of economies of scale, Porsche is no longer pursuing its own production of battery cells. Electromobility will remain an essential drive technology for our sports cars in the future.”

Porsche said it will continue to “rely on a flexible range of drive systems in order to position itself robustly in the transformation”, stating that its product strategy involves offering all three types of drive (combustion engine, hybrid, all-electric) in every segment until well into the 2030s, countering earlier statements that it would offer an 80 per cent EV share by the end of the current decade.

With Reuters