VW Warns of Global Shortage of EV Batteries by 2025

Volkswagen AG says carmakers will face a massive shortage of batteries for electrified vehicles unless the annual capacity to make them surges by 1,500 gigawatt-hours in eight years.

Research chief Ulrich Eichhorn tells reporters that VW alone will need enough batteries to equal 200 GWh per year—nearly six times the annual capacity of the “gigafactory” Tesla Inc. is building in Nevada—by 2025. Automotive News notes that VW’s estimated need is one-third higher than the company forecast a year ago.

Eichhorn figures the auto industry overall will require the output of about 40 such factories in 2025, assuming major carmakers plan to match VW’s goal of electrifying 25% of the cars it sells by then.

Many carmakers are aiming to do just that because of tougher emissions standards for piston-powered cars in key global markets that are forcing manufacturers to build more hybrid and all-electric cars. Another major driver is a new regulation in China that will require carmakers to electrify at least 8% of the cars they sell there in 2018 and 12% of them by 2020.

Meanwhile, Tesla has said it will reveal plans by year-end to erect as many as three more of its 35 GWh factories. Bloomberg Intelligence predicted last month that Chinese companies will add a combined 160 GWh of battery-making capacity by 2021.