Volkswagen takes aim at Tesla with its own European gigafactories

Volkswagen is also working on a major expansion of charging infrastructure, a lack of which is still seen as a big barrier to the mass adoption of battery-powered cars

Volkswagen plans to build half a dozen battery cell plants in Europe and expand infrastructure for charging electric vehicles globally, accelerating efforts to overtake Tesla and speed up mass adoption of battery-powered cars.

The world's No. 2 carmaker, which is in the midst of a major shift towards battery-powered cars, said on Monday it wants to have six battery cell factories operating in Europe by 2030, which it will build alone or with partners.

"Our transformation will be fast, it will be unprecedented," Chief Executive Herbert Diess told Volkswagen's Power Day, which also featured the CEOs of BP, Enel and Iberdrola