VW wants to produce materials for battery production together with the Belgian company Umicore. The Brussels-based joint venture between the Volkswagen subsidiary PowerCo and Umicore intends to invest three billion euros and deliver materials for 2.2 million electric cars annually by the end of the decade, as the companies announced on Monday in Salzgitter and Brussels.

With the battery components, the companies want to cover a large part of the needs of Volkswagen's planned European battery cell factories. The main focus is on battery cathodes and primary materials for 160 gigawatt hours of cell capacity. By the end of the decade, VW wants to work with partners to produce electric car batteries with an annual output of 240 gigawatt hours in six European factories.

"The most important cost factor of electric vehicles at the moment is the battery," said PowerCo chief buyer Jörg Teichmann. The battery is therefore also the basis for the success of e-mobility. Together with Umicore, volume is secured at the best price and with the best cost structure.

Umicore CEO Mathias Miedreich added that the joint venture is strategically unique because it is the first all-encompassing supply chain in this area in Europe. "No other partnership has such strength across the value chain," he said. The recycling of used batteries is also an option for the joint venture.