German carmaker Daimler will spend 20 billion euros (22.7 billion U.S. dollars) on battery cells until 2030, the company announced on Tuesday.
Dieter Zetsche, chairman of the board of management of Daimler AG, said that "with the purchase of battery cells for more than 20 billion euros, we are consistently pushing forward with the transformation into the electric future of our company."
Daimler's aims to increase the share of fully electric cars to 15 to 25 percent across all vehicles sold by 2025 and seeks to offer 130 electrified variants of Mercedes-Benz models by 2022. German carmakers are struggling to fulfill EU targets as well as a binding quote for electric cars that has been announced by China, the biggest market of the German car industry.
By now, all large German car manufacturers are phasing out of combustion engines entirely. In November, German rival Volkswagen announced its intention to invest almost 44 billion euros in digitization and electric mobility by 2023. VW boss Herbert Diess added that "we have decided to examine the participation in a battery cell production".
According to Daimler, the battery cells will be purchased on the global market and then assembled in eight in-house factories on three different continents. The first battery assembly plant in the Saxon town of Kamenz is already in operation.
Daimler did not reveal the manufacturers from which it intends to purchase battery cells but only announced that the manufactures "already produce battery cells in Asia and the United States.
The "extensive orders for battery cells until the year 2030" would ensure Daimler's supply "with the latest technologies", added Wilko Stark, member of the divisional board Mercedes-Benz Cars, procurement and supplier quality.
Daimler plans to invest one billion euros in the development of its battery production facilities and an additional 10 billion euros in the development and production of the electric car fleet. (1 euro =1.13 U.S. dollars)
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