BERLIN (Reuters) -German carmaker Porsche AG scrapped production plans at its high-performance battery unit Cellforce, saying it would focus on development because of slow demand for electric vehicles and changed conditions in China and the United States.

Cellforce will be turned into an independent research and development unit, the company said in a statement on Monday.

Some of the nearly 300 jobs at the subsidiary could potentially move to battery unit PowerCo, said Porsche, and Cellforce's expertise would also benefit V4Smart, the automotive battery unit taken over from Varta earlier this year.

The company said in April it would no longer pursue plans to expand production at Cellforce.

The carmaker had initially planned to expand production with the construction of a "start-up factory" in the southwest German state of Baden-Wuerttemberg in 2022 to be followed by a larger second location.

However, "due to a lack of volume worldwide, it is not possible to scale up its own production to the planned cost position," said Michael Steiner, Porsche executive board member for research and development.

(Writing by Miranda MurrayReporting by Christina AmannEditing by Ludwig Burger)