Volkswagen announced plans of expanding its battery production capacity as part of its accelerated efforts to overtake competitors such as Tesla.
The company, also known as VW, said Tuesday that it plans to have six new battery-cell manufacturing plants in Europe by 2030.
VW is currently in the middle of the industry's largest shift towards electric-powered vehicles, and said that it will also be expanding its electric infrastructure to meet the charging demand of its electric vehicles worldwide.
"Our transformation will be fast, it will be unprecedented. E-mobility has become core business for us," VW's chief executive officer, Herbert Diess, told investors at the company's Power Day event.
VW did not immediately disclose the amount of money it plans to invest in the new battery production plants. Analysts said that it could be part of the company's previously announced $41.7 billion investment in its electrification over the next five years.
VW said that the six new factories in Europe will have a combined production capacity of up to 240 gigawatt-hours per year. The company said that the first and second factories will be built together with Sweden's Northvolt, which it expects to be operational by 2023.
As part of the partnership, Volkswagen said that it will be increasing its 20% stake in Northvolt. The first factory will be built in Sweden, while the second one will be built in the German city of Salzgitter. The second factory is expected to be operational by 2025.
VW said that the third factory will either be built in Spain, Portugal, or France. The company said that it is currently scouting for a location for the fourth factory, which will either be in Poland, the Czech Republic, or in Slovakia. The locations for the last two production facilities have yet to be determined.
Apart from the battery production plants, VW said that it is also currently working on a major expansion to its charging infrastructure. The company acknowledged that having readily available charging stations across Europe will be key to the mass adoption of electric-powered vehicles.
Through its own efforts and its partnership with companies such as BP, Enel, and Iberdrola, VW is aiming to build and operate around 18,000 public charging stations across Europe by 2025.
