Czech Škoda Auto opens new battery hall in Mladá Boleslav for nearly CZK 5 billion

Carmaker Škoda Auto has opened a new hall for assembling battery systems for electric vehicles at its main plant in Mladá Boleslav. The investment amounts to EUR 205 million, or CZK 4.97 billion at the current exchange rate. The company said this makes it the largest producer of battery systems within the Volkswagen Group, with annual output of up to 335.000 units. Company representatives told reporters this today at the opening of the hall.

Construction of the 55.000-square-metre hall took less than a year. The production line enables the assembly of one battery system per minute, or more than 1100 systems per day. Production automation stands at around 84 percent, with 131 industrial robots in operation. The hall will employ 600 people, some newly hired and some retrained.

"By opening the new assembly line for battery systems, we are localising battery production on a large scale, strengthening a more resilient and competitive European value chain, and further making electric mobility more accessible," said Škoda Auto CEO Klaus Zellmer.

According to the carmaker, the Mladá Boleslav plant is the Group's first European plant to manufacture battery systems with cells integrated directly into the pack, known as cell-to-pack (CTP). They are intended for use in mass-produced electric vehicles, offering greater resilience and easier, less costly production. The systems use standardised cells with lithium iron phosphate (LFP) chemistry. The carmaker said that, thanks to this technology and in-house production, it has achieved a roughly 30 percent reduction in battery manufacturing costs.

Škoda Auto launched production of battery systems for its electrified vehicles and other Group models in 2019, and has produced around 1,4 million battery systems since then. "The start of production of cell-to-pack battery systems is another step towards moving an important part of the manufacturing process into our own plants," said Andreas Dick, Škoda Auto board member for production and logistics.

The carmaker began building the new M8 hall beyond the D10 motorway, outside the main site, in August 2024. Construction work took six months, while installation of the technology took around a year. The first batteries were completed in August last year. The battery systems will be used primarily for cars manufactured in Mladá Boleslav, as well as at other Group plants. Production is ramping up and currently operates on one shift; it is expected to move to three shifts by the end of the year. "We would like to reach maximum capacity towards the end of this year," Petr Němec, head of component planning in production, told ČTK. According to him, most jobs are specialised and skilled positions. Some workers in the new hall are retrained existing employees, which reflects the gradual transition from manufacturing internal combustion engine cars to electric vehicles.

Škoda Auto produced 1,065.000 vehicles worldwide last year, 15 percent more year on year. Employees in Mladá Boleslav assembled more than 329.000 battery systems last year for electric vehicles on the MEB platform, for Škoda cars and Volkswagen Group models.