VW's supervisory board eyes multi-billion electrification plan

FRANKFURT -- Volkswagen Group's supervisory board is due to vote on a multi-billion-euro investment plan on Friday, including steps to retool three German plants to mass produce electric cars and to explore alliances with battery partners and rival automakers.

Labor unions, who control half the seats on VW's supervisory board, need to sign off on the plan to create global production capacity for 1 million electric vehicles by 2025 amid their concerns that assembling battery driven cars will require fewer workers.

Click here for livestream of the meeting and press conference.

Around 436,000 industrial jobs in Germany are tied to building gasoline and diesel vehicles.

Jobs are under threat because a combustion-engine car has 1,400 components in the motor, exhaust system and transmission, while an EV's battery and motor has only 200 components, according to analysts at ING.

VW's management this week outlined plans to labor leaders for converting car plants in Zwickau, Emden and Hannover to build electric cars, providing job guarantees to workers until 2028.

The first I.D. EV, the Neo hatchback, is due to roll off the production line in Zwickau in 2019, as the plant ramps up to a production capacity of 330,000 EVs. Zwickau currently builds the VW Golf and the Golf Estate.

Volkswagen's MEB electric vehicle platform is also being eyed by U.S. automaker Ford as the two companies continue exploratory talks about an alliance to develop self-driving cars and EVs and to complement each other's global production footprints.