A trip to Germany earlier this month by a St. Thomas delegation was described as “full of new learnings.”
Mayor Joe Preston, St. Thomas Economic Development Corp. chair Sean Dyke and city manager Sandra Daters Bere met with PowerCo officials as construction is ready to begin on their EV battery plant here in the city.
Preston noted PowerCo already has a presence in St. Thomas.
The office is located on the second floor of the Van Pelt’s Print Plus location on Talbot Street.
After a visit to PowerCo headquarters in Salzgitter, Germany, Preston is convinced greater things are in store for the city’s EV battery plant.
Scheduled to begin production in 2027, Preston feels the plant will also have a research and development component.
Preston’s trip included a visit to the PowerCo lab where the unified cell battery was developed which will be produced at the St. Thomas EV battery plant.
He enthused about PowerCo being “an incredibly sustainable company.”
And he added he was impressed by the culture evident at parent company, Volkswagen at their Salzgitter engine plant.
myFM asked Preston about what lies ahead in construction of PowerCo’s EV battery plant in the city.
It is not a glamorous stage in the process, he conceded.
Preston added he was in awe of the EV battery plant under construction in Salzgitter, Germany which is about a third of the size of what will take shape here. The German plant measures about four stories in height.
With the warm reception received in Salzgitter, could it become a twin or sister city to City St. Thomas?
At the Dec. 18 city council meeting Preston observed the way Volkswagen treats its employees and the community of Wolfsburg – home of the world’s largest single car manufacturing complext – “is exactly the culture that will match St. Thomas well.”
