NÖRDLINGEN, Germany—VARTA AG has opened a new lithium-ion-cell factory here with 15,000 square meters of production space on two floors. New customer orders are already being processed.

With the new factory, VARTA now has a production area totaling 60,000 square meters in Nördlingen. Herbert Schein, CEO of VARTA, sees the expansion as an important step in the company's growth strategy and essential to ensuring Germany as a location for battery technology development.

“Today, the battery is the strategic component of the future," says Schein. "It was a political decision at the highest level to promote research and the expansion of battery technology in Europe. And it was the right decision.”

The facility mainly produces the small lithium-ion cells used in Premium True Wireless Stereo Headsets. These cells, called CoinPower, enable applications such as noise cancelling or voice control to be integrated into Bluetooth headsets that can be worn wirelessly in the ear.

The new building adjoins existing buildings and was designed and built with climate-friendliness in mind. Production will be CO₂ neutral in the next two years. For example, the waste heat from the machines is used to air-condition the building and the drying rooms in production.

VARTA's ultra-high-performance V4Drive cell is used in the home and garden, and automotive sectors. The interest in this lithium-ion round cell in the 21700 format is high because it fully charges in just six minutes. It also remains efficient even at low temperatures. Production of this cell on a pilot line in the company's Ellwangen facility will start at the end of the year.