Volkswagen is pushing its joint venture partners consisting of SK Innovation (SKI) to construct electric car battery plants which have at least one Gigawatt manufacturing capacity, CEO Herbert Diess informed Reuters.
“Anything below that amount would make little sense,” Diess stated on the sidelines of the Shanghai Auto Show on Sunday.
Volkswagen will purchase 50 billion euros ($56.57 billion) worth of battery cells for electric vehicles and has figured out South Korea’s SKI, LG Chem and Samsung SDI as strategic battery cell providers along with China’s Contemporary Amperex Technology (CATL).
The German automaker is renovating 16 factories to construct electric vehicles and prepares to start producing 33 different electric cars under the Skoda, Audi, VW and Seat brands by mid 2023.
“We are considering an investment in a battery manufacturer in order to reinforce our electrification offensive and build up the required know-how,” Volkswagen stated.
SKI is constructing a battery cell manufacturing plant in the United States to supply automaker’s plant located in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
SKI will provide lithium-ion battery cells for an electric car that Volkswagen prepares to start making in Chattanooga in 2022.
LG Chem, Samsung and SKI on will also provide battery cells for Volkswagen in Europe. CATL is the automaker’s strategic partner for China, and will provide batteries for its electric fleet from this year.
