Volkswagen is pushing its joint venture partners including SK Innovation (SKI) to build electric car battery plants which have at least one Gigawatt manufacturing capacity, Chief Executive Herbert Diess told Reuters.
"Anything below that amount would make little sense," Diess said on the sidelines of the Shanghai Auto Show on Sunday.
Volkswagen will buy 50 billion euros ($56.57 billion) worth of battery cells for electric cars and has identified South Korea's SKI, LG Chem and Samsung SDI as strategic battery cell suppliers as well as China's Contemporary Amperex Technology Co Ltd (CATL).
The German automaker is retooling 16 factories to build electric vehicles