Volkswagen plans to significantly lower its cost for battery systems to below €100 ($119) per kilowatt hour by 2030, with plans to build six battery gigafactories in Europe, Kallanish reports.

“E-Mobility has won the race! Therefore battery and charging has (sic) become core business of the Volkswagen Group,” ceo Herbert Diess tweeted shortly after the company’s first "Power Day" presentation earlier this week.

From an increased online presence to a Tesla-style presentation on future electrification plans, Volkswagen has revealed its roadmap to massively upscale its battery and electric cars manufacturing. The plan is to secure 240 gigawatt-hours of battery supply through partnerships by the end of 2030.

The first two gigafactories will be developed in partnership with Swedish battery producer Northvolt. Its premium cells production will be concentrated in the Northvolt Ett plant in Skellefteå and in Salzgitter, Germany. The latter gigafactory will now be run exclusively by Volkswagen, after a stake acquisition deal with Northvolt.

“Production of these cells is set to commence in 2023 and will be expanded gradually to an annual capacity of up to 40 GWh,” says Volkswagen.

Another gigafactory will be based in Spain, through a partnership with Seat, Iberdrola and the Spanish government. Earlier this month, Spain’s industry ministry Maria Reyes Maroto confirmed Seat would be building the country’s first battery gigafactory near Seat’s Martorell plant in Barcelona. The project supports the electrification of the brand owned by Volkswagen, as well as the transformation of Europe’s second biggest auto market.

Volkswagen didn’t say where the other gigafactories would be located.

Thomas Schmall, ceo of Volkswagen Components, explained that the goal is to reduce the cost and complexity of the battery, and at the same time increase range and performance. The below €100/kWh cost threshold “will finally make e-mobility affordable and the dominant drive technology,” he adds.

The German automaker is working to secure battery supply beyond 2025 and is betting on a new unified cell. This is key to deliver “enormous cost saving,” Schmall notes. The aim is to reduce battery costs in the entry-level segment by up to 50% and in the volume segment by up to 30% by 2030.

These batteries are set to be launched from 2023 and should be installed across brands in up to 80% of all EVs in the VW Group in 2030.

Executives have outlined several potential chemistries for its unified batteries, suggesting the traditional nickel-manganese-cobalt dynamic may eventually be eclipsed by iron phosphate or nickel manganese with a combined graphite-silicon anode. Volkswagen has been working to reduce cobalt content in its batteries, and ultimately develop a cost-effective, high-performance, sustainable solid-state battery.

Like Tesla, Volkswagen is expected to use a dry-coating process in its new batteries, as well as recycle and incorporate as much as 95% of its battery content into new products.