Volkswagen will clone the Tesla-Panasonic gigafactory approach?

Volkswagen so far was relying on external supplies of lithium-ion battery cells and besides some investment in research of next-generation batteries, it doesn't have any in-house factory.

The example of the successful and profitable partnership between Tesla and Panasonic in the Tesla Gigafactory project, as well as the scale of further Volkswagen EV plans, encourages it to consider its own battery gigafactory and contracted with a battery manufacturer.

Volkswagen said that it needs up to 150 GWh annually by 2025 for some €50 billion ($60 billion) and so far contracts awarded to suppliers have a volume of some €40 billion ($47.7 billion).

According to Germany’s Manager Magazin, Volkswagen is in negotiations with SK Innovation to build a battery gigafactory in Europe.

It would be an interesting match, as SK Innovation is a much smaller player than other South Korean manufacturers (LG Chem or Samsung SDI), Japanese (Panasonic) or Chinese (CATL, BYD) and such a partnership would open the way to growth.

Currently, SK Innovation is in progress to build a 7.5 GWh plant in Hungary.

Source: Manager Magazin via Electrek