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PHOTO FILE: On March 5, 2019, at the 89th International Motor Show, in Geneva, Switzerland, the Volkswagen logo appears on a new car model. REUTERS / Denis Balibouse
SHANGHAI (Reuters) – Volkswagen is encouraging its joint venture partners, including SK Innovation (SKI), to build electric car battery plants with a production capacity at least equal to Gigawatt, said managing director Herbert Diess to Reuters.
"An amount less than this amount would make no sense," Diess said on the sidelines of the Shanghai Auto Show on Sunday.
Volkswagen will buy electric car battery cells worth 50 billion euros (56.57 billion dollars) and has appointed SKI, LG Chem and Samsung SDI, two companies of South Korea, as strategic suppliers of battery cells, as well as the contemporary Chinese company Amperex Technology Co Ltd (CATL).
The German manufacturer is retooling 16 factories to build electric vehicles and plans to start producing 33 different electric cars under the Skoda, Audi, VW and Seat brands by mid-2023.
"We plan to invest in a battery manufacturer to strengthen our electrification offensive and put in place the necessary know-how," Volkswagen said.
SKI is currently building a battery cell manufacturing facility in the United States to power the Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
SKI will supply lithium-ion battery cells for an electric car that Volkswagen plans to manufacture in Chattanooga in 2022.
LG Chem, Samsung and SKI will also provide battery cells for Volkswagen in Europe. CATL is the strategic partner of the automaker for China and will supply batteries for its electric fleet from 2019.
Reportage by Edward Taylor; Edited by Christopher Cushing
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