Volkswagen is a German automobile manufacturer based in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. Established in 1937 by the German Labour Front under the Nazi Party, it was revitalized into the global brand it is today after World War II by British Army officer Ivan Hirst. The company is well known for its iconic Beetle and serves as the flagship marque of the Volkswagen Group, which became the world's largest automotive manufacturer by global sales in 2016 and 2017.
Volkswagen AG, known internationally as the Volkswagen Group, is a German public multinational conglomerate manufacturer of passenger and commercial vehicles, motorcycles, engines and turbomachinery. Headquartered in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany, and since the late 2000s is a publicly-traded family business owned by Porsche SE, which in turn is half-owned but fully controlled by the Austrian-German Porsche and Piëch family. The company also offers related services, including financing, leasing, and fleet management. In 2016, it was the world's largest automaker by sales, and keeping this title in 2017, 2018, and 2019, selling 10.9 million vehicles and was the largest automaker by revenue in 2022. It has maintained the largest market share in Europe for over two decades. It ranked seventh in the 2020 Fortune Global 500 list of the world's largest companies. In 2023, Volkswagen Group ranked 29th in the Forbes Global 2000.
Martin Eberhard is an American engineer and entrepreneur who co-founded Tesla, Inc. with Marc Tarpenning in 2003, where Eberhard was its original CEO serving until late 2007. In 2015, he was inducted into the University of Illinois Engineering Hall of Fame.
Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile (SQM) is a Chilean chemical company and a supplier of plant nutrients, iodine, lithium and industrial chemicals. It is the world's biggest lithium producer.
Porsche Automobil Holding SE, usually shortened to Porsche SE, is a German multinational corporation primarily known as a holding company of Volkswagen Group with investments in the automotive industry. Porsche SE is headquartered in Zuffenhausen, a city district of Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg and is majority owned by the Austrian-German Porsche-Piëch family. The company was founded in Stuttgart as Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche GmbH in 1931 by Ferdinand Porsche (1875–1951) and his son-in-law Anton Piëch (1894–1952).
A solid-state battery is an electrical battery that uses a solid electrolyte for ionic conductions between the electrodes, instead of the liquid or gel polymer electrolytes found in conventional batteries. Solid-state batteries theoretically offer much higher energy density than the typical lithium-ion or lithium polymer batteries.
The electric vehicle industry in China is the largest in the world, accounting for around 58% of global production of electric vehicles (EVs) and more than 1.5 million exports in 2023. In 2023, CAAM reported China had sold 9.05 million passenger electric vehicles, consisting 6.26 million BEVs and 2.79 million PHEV. China also dominates the plug-in electric bus and light commercial vehicle market, reaching over 500,000 buses and 247,500 electric commercial vehicles in 2019, and recording new sales of 447,000 commercial EVs in 2023.
SK Innovation Co., Ltd. is an intermediate holding company of SK Group engaged in petroleum, alternative energy, and oil exploration. It runs its business through eight major subsidiaries, including SK Energy, SK Geo Centric, SK On, SK Enmove, SK Incheon Petrochem, SK Trading International, SK IE Technology and SK Earthon.
Lucid Group, Inc. is an American automotive and technology company that manufactures electric vehicles and supplies advanced electric vehicle powertrain systems. The company is headquartered in Newark, California. In September 2021, the company began producing the Lucid Air sedan at its factory in Casa Grande, Arizona. The company expects to begin production of its second model, the Lucid Gravity SUV, in late 2024. Lucid also supplies and develops powertrain technology to other automakers, including Aston Martin.
Fisker Inc. is an American automotive company founded by Danish automotive designer Henrik Fisker and his wife Geeta Gupta-Fisker.
Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited (CATL) is a Chinese battery manufacturer and technology company founded in 2011 that specializes in the manufacturing of lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles and energy storage systems, as well as battery management systems (BMS). The company is the biggest EV battery manufacturer, with a global market share of around 37% in 2023. The company is headquartered in the city of Ningde in China's Fujian province.
The Volkswagen ID. Buzz is a battery electric minivan produced by German manufacturer Volkswagen. Based on the dedicated battery electric MEB platform, it is the first production electric minivan from Volkswagen and part of the Volkswagen ID. series. A retro styled minivan, the design of the ID. Buzz is inspired by the Volkswagen Type 2 (T1) Microbus.
The Volkswagen Group MEB platform is a modular car platform for electric cars developed by the Volkswagen Group and its subsidiaries. It is used in models of Audi, Cupra, Škoda, and Volkswagen, along with Ford through partnership. The architecture is aimed to "consolidate electronic controls and reduce the number of microprocessors, advance the application of new driver-assistance technology and somewhat alter the way cars are built" by the VW Group.
Electrify America, LLC is an electric vehicle DC fast-charging network in the United States, with more than 950 stations and over 4,250 DC fast charging connectors as of August 2024. It is a subsidiary of Volkswagen Group of America, established in late 2016 by the automaker as part of its efforts to offset emissions in the wake of the Volkswagen emissions scandal. Volkswagen, as part of its settlement following the "Dieselgate" emissions scandal, invested $2 billion in creating Electrify America. In June 2022, Siemens became a minority shareholder of the company. Electrify America supports the CCS and CHAdeMO connector types with plans to add NACS connectors starting in 2025. Electrify America has been the target of significant criticism for the perceived lack of reliability and maintenance of its stations.
Guangzhou Xiaopeng Motors Technology Co., Ltd., doing business as XPeng Motors, commonly known as XPeng, is a Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer. The company is headquartered in Guangzhou, Guangdong, with offices in Mountain View, California, United States and Munich, Germany. XPeng stock is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange and the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
The Volkswagen ID.4 and Volkswagen ID.5 are battery electric compact crossover SUVs produced by Volkswagen. Based on the MEB platform, the ID.4 is the second model of the Volkswagen ID. series. The production version of the ID.4 debuted in September 2020 as the first fully-electric crossover SUV under the Volkswagen brand, while the coupe-shaped variant of the ID.4 is marketed as the Volkswagen ID.5 and was revealed in November 2021.
Northvolt AB is a Swedish battery developer and manufacturer, specialising in lithium-ion technology for electric vehicles. Founded in 2015 by two former Tesla executives, it commissioned its first manufacturing plant in Skellefteå, Sweden in 2021 and has announced plans for five others in Europe and North America.
Canoo Inc. is an American automotive company based in Torrance, California, that develops and manufactures electric vehicles. Canoo's research & development team is based in Michigan, in the Detroit region, and production operations are in Justin, Texas. The company also plans to produce commercial electric vehicles such as vans for fleet, vehicle rental and ride sharing services.
MP Materials Corp. is an American rare-earth materials company headquartered in Las Vegas, Nevada. MP Materials owns and operates the Mountain Pass mine, the only operating rare earth mine and processing facility in the United States. The rare earth materials industry is dominated by China, which produces 60% of the world's rare earth elements and processes 90% of these materials, including imports from other countries. MP Materials focuses its production on Neodymium-Praseodymium (NdPr), a rare earth material used in high-strength permanent magnets that power the traction motors found in electric vehicles, robotics, wind turbines, drones and other advanced motion technologies. MP Materials is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol "MP". As of December 2021, JHL Capital Group, QVT Financial and CEO James Litinsky were the company's three largest shareholders, with about 7.7% of the company owned by Shenghe Resources, a Chinese rare earth business located in Sichuan.
Sizzle Acquisition Corp. is a publicly traded American special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) headquartered in Washington, D.C. Founded in October 2020, the company raised $155 million in a November 2021 initial public offering (IPO).
