Volkswagen aggressively seeks to build new electric vehicle assembly and battery plants in U.S.

Volkswagen is "aggressively" seeking to build a newelectric vehicleassembly plant and battery plant in the United States, Chief Executive Officer Scott Keogh said on June 8, according to foreign media reports.

Keogh, however, declined to reveal a possible location for the new factory.Volkswagen'selectrificationefforts are currently focused on the U.S. state of Tennessee, including local production of the electric crossover Volkswagen ID.4 in the state later this year.

Image source: Volkswagen

Keogh said, “We are actively considering a new electric vehicle factory in the United States, and we are also considering building a battery factory.” A VW spokesman said the company was still discussing and evaluating various options, and no decision has been made.Whether it's building a new or expanding plant, it's a big decision for Volkswagen because billions of dollars could be invested.

Volkswagen expects tosee a sharp increase in the supply and sales of its electric vehicles in the U.S. in the second half of the year as the company ramps up U.S.production of the ID.4, Keogh said.Volkswagen has been importing ID.4s from Germany to the U.S. since last year, with a monthly limit of 800 to 2,000 units, which is not enough to meet customer demand.

With the start of local production of the ID.4 at VW's Chattanooga plant, monthly supply of the ID.4 in the U.S. market is expected to rapidly increase to about 7,000 vehicles by the end of the year, Keogh said.Once the Chattanooga plant is in full production of the ID.4, on a three-shift basis, it is expected to eventually produce 10,000 ID.4s per month.

Currently, Volkswagen's Chattanooga plant is assembling pre-production models of the ID.4 for testing, validation and other purposes.Keogh revealed that the factory is expected to start official production of the ID.4 as early as next month, and it is expected that the US-made ID.4 will be available in large quantities as early as September.The Volkswagen ID.4 will ramp up production significantly faster than many new EVs, including those from startups like Rivian as well as legacy automakers like General Motors.

Only 2,755 Volkswagen ID.4s were sold in the first quarter of this year, compared to 16,742 in the same period last year.