Volkswagen Just Ordered €40 Billion in Electric Car Batteries!
VW orders €40 Billion in Electric Car Batteries
Volkswagen Just Ordered $48 Billion in Electric Car Batteries. That's About What Tesla Is Worth Right Now
A few hours after Elon Musk berated analysts for what he perceived as unimaginative questions, Volkswagen said they were writing a check for batteries that almost match Tesla’s entire market value.
Volkswagen’s Chief Executive Officer, Herbert Diess told investors at their annual shareholder meeting in Berlin that at this time they had secured battery-purchasing contracts worth 40 billion euros and plan to increase their spend on batteries to a whopping total of 50 billion euros.
Volkswagen plans to sell as many as 3 million all-electric cars per year by 2025. This announcement couldn’t have come at a worse time for Tesla Motors as they are finding themselves increasingly on the defensive as investors probe Tesla’s finances.
Established manufacturers from Daimler, such as VW are pushing aggressively into Tesla’s niche market and plan to dominate it. VW makes more cars in four days than Tesla does in a year, and is harnessing it's immense financial and engineering firepower to make up for ground lost in the self-inflicted diesel-cheating scandal.
The pressure of the competition seems to be getting to Elon Musk and the mounting pressure on the California-based electric vehicle maker manifested in meetings with analysts when Musk criticized criticised them for asking “boring” questions and cutting off queries about the company’s capital needs. Herbert Diess of VW said:
“By 2020 we will offer our customers more than 25 new electric models and more than 20 plug-in hybrids,”
“In just a few years’ time, then, across all brands and regions, we aim to put the world’s largest fleet of electric vehicles on the road.”
VW’s Audi brand, the group’s largest earnings contributor, will start production of its first all-electric SUV at the end of August, followed by the four-door coupe Mission E from sister brand Porsche next year. VW’s namesake brand will start to roll out the new I.D. range of battery-powered vehicles from 2020, which will be priced at comparable levels to similar combustion engine vehicles.
As car manufacturers roll out their electric cars, Diess said there were “clear” indications to restart talks to establish manufacturing of battery cells in Europe to satisfy growing demand. Robert Bosch, the world’s largest car-parts maker, decided against starting an own battery cell production earlier this year citing high investment demands.
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