Volkswagen is pushing its joint venture partners, including SK Innovation (SKI), to start building factories to produce batteries for electric vehicles. As the company's chief executive Herbert Diess told Reuters reporters on the sidelines of the Shanghai Motor Show, the minimum productivity of such plants will be at least one gigawatt-hour per year - creating smaller enterprises simply does not make economic sense.
Volkswagen has already entered into agreements worth 50 billion euros to purchase batteries for its electric vehicles from South Korean SKI, LG Chem and Samsung SDI, as well as from the Chinese company CATL (Amperex Technology Co Ltd). The German automaker will retool 16 factories for the production of electric vehicles and plans to begin production of 2023 different electric car models under the Skoda, Audi, VW and Seat brands by mid-33.
“We are considering investing in a battery manufacturer to strengthen our ambitions in the electric mobility era and create the necessary know-how,” Volkswagen said. SKI is building a plant to produce battery cells in the United States to supply Volkswagen's plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee. SKI will supply lithium-ion batteries for the electric vehicle that Volkswagen plans to begin producing in Chattanooga in 2022.
LG Chem, Samsung and SKI will also supply batteries to Volkswagen in Europe. CATL is the automaker's strategic partner in China and will supply batteries starting in 2019.
Source: 3dnews.ru