Volkswagen is considering setting up an in-house battery cell manufacturing operation in North America, similar to what it’s doing in Germany.
The goal would be to ease a coming battery shortage by supplementing suppliers with its own production, according to Johan De Nysschen, chief operating officer of Volkswagen of America. The board is still weighing the idea, and no final decision has been made.
Vertical integration “has to be on our consideration of strategic options,” De Nysschen said Wednesday in an interview at VW’s new battery testing lab in Chattanooga.
The company has been scouting for US battery plant sites and should make a decision by the end of 2022, a spokesman said. VW is considering building its own cell-production facility, using third-party suppliers or entering into joint ventures.
Automakers from VW to General Motors Co., are exploring…