Volkswagen Worried That There Will Not Be Enough Batteries To Produce All Of The Planned EVs

Several automakers are planning large numbers of electric cars for the near future, but that could lead to a shortage of lithium-ion battery cells, one Volkswagen executive believes.

Volkswagen Group R&D boss Ulrich Eichhorn recently said the auto industry will need to add manufacturing capacity equivalent to 40 Tesla "Gigafactories" over the next decade in order to meet demand, according to Automotive News. That's based on the assumption that other automakers will match VW's goal of making electric cars account for 25 percent of its global sales by 2025.

TheSteve - 7/11/2017 5:42:47 PM

+3 Boost

Oh, don't worry about having enough batteries to make the EVs you want to make. Concern yourself with finding enough customers who will buy those EVs, at a price that makes it worth your while to build them.

MDarringer - 7/11/2017 8:03:11 PM

+1 Boost

Dead center target hit.

TomM - 7/12/2017 10:12:13 AM

+4 Boost

Actually - there is already a problem with the supply of Lithium. It is Projected that demand will pass supply some time in 2019. Adding additional plant capacity to produce more batteries is going to need a major ramp up in production as well - and that is not happening right now. We also have limited supply of Cobalt too.

Since cars are not the only users of lithium batteries- and the other uses are also expanding - expect major price problems - at least for a while - unless they come up with another type of battery.

Hauerg - 7/11/2017 8:12:31 PM

0 Boost

Yeah VW, you should have a few of them up and running by now.

vdiv - 7/12/2017 9:29:33 AM

+6 Boost

They do, eGolf and eUp!, also Golf and Passat GTE. Audi has the A3 eTron, and Porsche has the Cayenne and Panamera S-E hybrids. More on the way.