Today, the government and the ČEZ Group have announced that they will sign an official document communicating their support for the construction of a factory for electric car batteries. The provisional name of this large scale industrial project is ‘The Gigafactory’. The initial first phase investment is set to be at least 52 billion crowns, and will be made by ČEZ and one of two subjects of international scale, who were not officially revealed yet. One of them was previously rumoured to be the Volkswagen AG, to which the Czech car brand Škoda belongs. Volkswagen both fits the description of the two subjects and previously announced that it is planning to construct 6 lithium battery factories in Europe. This project promises to offer at least 2300 jobs directly and support others indirectly, since the factory´s demand for lithium will likely be supplied by Czech lithium mines near Cínovec. These contain the largest deposit of lithium, the ‘metal of the future’, in Europe. The document they are set to sign suggests that the construction of such a factory in the country is a strategic project which will hasten the transformation of both the energetic and automotive industries towards renewable resources. Since 70% of ČEZ is owned by the government, much of the profits generated from this investment should go back to the people.
