[ferro-alloys.com]Volkswagen Group has doubled its long-term contract volume with battery manufactures to Eur40 billion ($48 billion) as the German car maker plans to expand the production of electric vehicles on a massive scale, it said.

**New CEO calls for European battery factories **Estimates demand at 150 GWh/year across group **VW to expand EV production on 'massive scale'

New CEO Herbert Diess told shareholders last week VW estimates its own annual battery demand at 150 GWh by 2025.

VW Group, one of the world's biggest cars makers, plans 16 production sites worldwide to produce battery powered vehicles by the end of 2022, up from just three sites currently, it said.

To ensure adequate battery capacity for the massive expansion of electric mobility, partnerships with battery manufacturers have been agreed.

According to Diess, batteries will be the 'core technology' for electro-mobility and therefore Europe needs to rethink again battery cell production.

Under its 'Roadmap E' strategy, Volkswagen plans to build up to three million electric vehicles annually by 2025 and is planning to roll-out some 80 new electric models across its group of brands.

VW plans to invest Eur34 billion by 2022 into electro-mobility and a further Eur15 billion through its Chinese JV, the CEO said.

In 2017, VW Group sold a record 10.7 million vehicles worldwide.

But it has been under intense pressure to improve its environmental image following the diesel emissions scandal in 2015.

For the power sector, the planned rollout of EVs will not only be a demand-side story, but also impact the storage potential from expected cost reductions for batteries as well as the use of second-hand car batteries.

• [Editor:王可]