Volkswagen announces expansion of battery purchase

According to foreign media reports, according to the previous plan of the Volkswagen Group, it is not until 2019 that large-scale electric vehicle products will be introduced to the market. But now Volkswagen has begun to prepare for the supply of battery components in order to meet the large-scale production needs of next year.

After the announcement of a $25 billion battery purchase contract, the German automaker announced that it would double the contract amount to $48 billion.

Volkswagen announced the news at a recent shareholder meeting, which was based on the "Road map E" production plan announced last year.

At the time, Volkswagen CEO Matthias Muller said: "In the past few months, we have tried our best to ensure the implementation of this technology." Last fall, when the Road map E project came out, Volkswagen announced that it would reach 3 million electric motors per year by 2025. The production of automobiles has simultaneously introduced 80 electric vehicle models. In 2018, nine models will be added to the list of electric or hybrid vehicles, including three pure electric vehicles.

By 2025, Volkswagen hopes to reach 3 million electric vehicles per year, including all brands such as Volkswagen, Audi and Porsche.

However, this does not mean that the public will immediately invest 48 billion US dollars in battery production for electric vehicles.

At present, the global supply of automotive battery components is very limited, and it is difficult for automakers, especially start-ups, to obtain the protection of suppliers. This is why many manufacturers are considering produce their own car batteries.

The public also considered this, but eventually decided to give up this practice. Instead, Volkswagen chose to sign long-term contracts with battery manufacturers and encouraged manufacturers to invest more to expand capacity to grow with Volkswagen's electric vehicle business.

Although the contract is binding at some level, it may include provisions based on advances in battery technology and a significant improvement in production costs over the next 10 years.

At present, the German automaker did not disclose any specific contract details, but it is speculated that the company that cooperates with Volkswagen may be LG Chem, Samsung SDI, Panasonic or CATL.

Technically speaking, Volkswagen's electric vehicle production will start from this year's Audi e-tron Quattro, and will begin to expand significantly next year. By then, there will be a number of ID series electric vehicles entering the market by 2020.

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