LEIPZIG, Germany: Volkswagen will create joint ventures and help finance battery production to persuade sceptical cell suppliers to back its aggressive push for mass producing electric vehicles, board member Stefan Sommer told Reuters.
VW has said it will buy 50 billion euros ($56.57 billion) worth of battery cells and has identified Sweden’s Northvolt, South Korea’s SKI, LG Chem and Samsung SDI as well as China’s CATL as strategic partners.
“Not every supplier is convinced that electric mobility will come on such a large scale. You need to spend more time convincing them to invest in the auto industry,” Sommer told Reuters.
Volkswagen said that by 2025, it needs 150 gigawatt hours worth of battery production capacity in Europe and another 150 in Asia. By 2030 this figure will double.
