Volkswagen to invest in mines in bid to become global battery supplier17 Mar 2023 13:10
Interesting article - not suggesting VW is about to invest in EUA but it does show that others from e.g. China could well be considering it ...
Reuters 17-Mar-23
Volkswagen plans to invest in mines to bring down the cost of battery cells, meet half of its own demand and sell to third-party customers, the carmaker's board member in charge of technology said.
Europe's biggest carmaker wants its battery unit PowerCo to become a global battery supplier, not just produce for Volkswagen's own needs, Thomas Schmall told Reuters in an interview.
PowerCo will start by delivering cells to Ford for the 1.2 million vehicles the U.S. carmaker is building in Europe on Volkswagen's electric MEB platform, he said.
Long-term, Volkswagen plans to build enough cells to meet half its global battery needs, with most production capacity located in Europe and North America, according to Schmall.
"The bottleneck for raw materials is mining capacity - that's why we need to invest in mines directly," he said.
The carmaker was partnering on supply deals with mining companies in Canada, where it will build its first North American battery plant.
Schmall declined to comment on further locations under consideration or where or when Volkswagen might invest directly in mines, saying the company would not disclose that information until the market was more settled.