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For VW to build 10 million electric vehicles to keep numbers up [1], at 60kWh per vehicle which approximately the midsized ID.3 [2], they need to build roughly

For VW to build 10 million electric vehicles to keep numbers up [1], at 60kWh per vehicle which approximately the midsized ID.3 [2], they need to build roughly 12x this capacity, so ~$240B investment which is about what the whole company is worth today [3]. [1] https://www.best-selling-cars.com/brands/2020-full-year-global-volkswagen-group-worldwide-sales-by-brand-and-market/ https://www.best-selling-cars.com/brands/2020-full-year-glob... [2] https://www.drivingelectric.com/volkswagen/id3/range https://www.drivingelectric.com/volkswagen/id3/range [3] https://ycharts.com/companies/VWAGY/enterprise_value https://ycharts.com/companies/VWAGY/enterprise_value

oblio 4y ago
They don't have to build absolutely every battery, they can still work with partners.
- bluGill 4y ago
  This is also a first investment. They can wait a year and invest double in a larger plant - when building something for mass manufacture you start with a smaller plant to learn how to do it, and then a larger one applying all the expensive lessons learned the hard way from the first. Sometimes this cycle is repeating dozens of times.
nine_k 4y ago
Won't a next factory cost less, due to the accumulated know-how, optimizations, improvements, etc? I suppose the investment goes not just to civil engineering and land.
rgbrenner 4y ago
The 20b covers 6 of these plants… totaling 240gwh or 3m vehicles (4m ID.3s).