Photo: Volkswagen
Volkswagen is gearing up for the introduction of its new line of electric vehicle based on the Modular Electrification Toolkit platform, or MEB, with the goal of having ten million electric cars on the roads in the coming years.
For this goal to become a reality, the Germans need batteries, and lots of them. As per the calculations made by the group’s planners, Volkswagen will be needing more than 150 GWh worth of lithium ion cells per year.
To meet those needs, Volkswagen has already tapped LG Chem and Samsung to equip its cars with batteries in Europe, and CATL for the ones it will be selling in China. A fourth partner company, South Korean SK Innovation (SKI), joined the group this week.
SKI will be helping LG Chem and Samsung to meet the demand in Europe starting next year, and from 2022 will handle the demand for car batteries for the North American market.
“With SK Innovation, LG Chem, Samsung, and CATL, we have found strong partners for the long-term supply of cells for our electric vehicles,” said in a statement the group’s procurement head, Stefan Sommer.
“Together with our suppliers, we will ensure that the rapidly growing electric fleet of the Volkswagen Group receives the best possible batteries – in all the variants we need to meet customer-specific and market-specific requirements.”
The wealth of Volkswagen group electric cars to be launched by 2025 consists of 50 new and fully electrified models. All of them will be built on the MEB platform.
The MEB is an evolution of the MBQ, one that drops the design needed for transverse, front-engine, front-wheel-drive layout in favor of a design capable of incorporating electric batteries and wheel motors.
The configuration of the platform will allow the deployment of batteries with different capacities for ranges that can be more than 550 kilometers (341 miles).
To meet those needs, Volkswagen has already tapped LG Chem and Samsung to equip its cars with batteries in Europe, and CATL for the ones it will be selling in China. A fourth partner company, South Korean SK Innovation (SKI), joined the group this week.
SKI will be helping LG Chem and Samsung to meet the demand in Europe starting next year, and from 2022 will handle the demand for car batteries for the North American market.
“With SK Innovation, LG Chem, Samsung, and CATL, we have found strong partners for the long-term supply of cells for our electric vehicles,” said in a statement the group’s procurement head, Stefan Sommer.
“Together with our suppliers, we will ensure that the rapidly growing electric fleet of the Volkswagen Group receives the best possible batteries – in all the variants we need to meet customer-specific and market-specific requirements.”
The wealth of Volkswagen group electric cars to be launched by 2025 consists of 50 new and fully electrified models. All of them will be built on the MEB platform.
The MEB is an evolution of the MBQ, one that drops the design needed for transverse, front-engine, front-wheel-drive layout in favor of a design capable of incorporating electric batteries and wheel motors.
The configuration of the platform will allow the deployment of batteries with different capacities for ranges that can be more than 550 kilometers (341 miles).
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