Volkswagen expects battery, raw material drive to cost $34 billion

Volkswagen’s planned European battery cell plants and securing important raw materials will cost as much as 30 billion euros ($34 billion), according to Thomas Schmall, a board member.

Schmall is in charge of technology at the automaker.

Schmall said in an interview at the Reuters Next conference that Volkswagen would look for outside partners to fund it.

Schmall is overseeing the automakers’ ambitious plan to build six large battery cell plants in Europe by the end of the decade.

Schmall said the goal is to make sure that the full production chain is sustainable, adding that producing electric vehicles alone was not enough for the automaker, which is aiming to be carbon neutral by at least 2050.