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Serbia, Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania, and North Macedonia are all reportedly vying for German carmaker Volkswagen’s planned new electric car plant, and now Serbia has allegedly gone a step further, offering a location between its two main cities.
Inđija in the northern province of Vojvodina is situated along the highway running from Belgrade to Novi Sad and is known as an investor-friendly location. Daily Večernje Novosti has learned that this location has been offered to Volkswagen to build an electric car plant and benefit from an area with around 3 million residents.
If it decided to build its electric car plant there, Volkswagen would benefit from a range of investments that would be funded by the state, the daily has learned. The vicinity of Jagodina in central Serbia has been offered as an alternative location.
Volkswagen will reportedly make its final decision on the plant location at the end of November.
Rio Tinto’s jadarite project eyed for EV battery production
Anglo-Australian mining multinational Rio Tinto is meanwhile developing its project to mine jadarite in Serbia. Jadarite is a source of lithium, used for the production of batteries for electric vehicles, and the project has been seen as a precursor to producing EV batteries in Serbia.
Rio Tinto has so far invested more than USD 100 million in the project, with production potentially to begin in 2023/2024, according to an earlier statement from the Serbian government.
ZF about to unveil EV parts plant
At the same time, German car parts maker ZF Friedrichshafen AG plans to open a plant in Pančevo by the end of April to produce powertrain components for hybrid and electric vehicles (EV).
At the launch of construction, in June last year, it was announced that the project’s estimated value is EUR 160 million.
In August last year, ZF posted its first vacancy announcements. It is still hiring, with available positions posted on Balkan Green Energy News’ Jobs page.
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