VW Group is reportedly stepping up its efforts to secure supplies of important commodities for battery production as part of its strategy to boost electrification in its product range.

A Bloomberg report said the company has invited a number of companies involved in the mining and trade of cobalt for talks in Wolfsburg this week.

The report added that Volkswagen is in "intensive talks" with producers of materials for electric cars, the company said in an email, adding that the discussions also deal with transparency, compliance and sustainability in the commodities supply chain.

Although most of the cobalt is used for batteries for mobile devices, a more recent application is for the rechargeable batteries in electric cars. This is increasing demand for cobalt and forcing up its price on world markets.

The electric car boom could see cobalt demand jump as much as 47-fold by 2030, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance.

In September, VW asked producers to submit proposals on supplying the material for up to ten years from 2019.

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Battery and auto manufacturers need to sign multi-year deals to secure supplies of raw materials including cobalt and lithium, analysts maintain.

VW Group CEO Matthias Müller has made reference to the importance of key components such as batteries and procurement initiatives taking place. "We also won't let the issue of batteries be taken out of our hands," said Müller in September at the IAA. The company will need a battery capacity of more than 150 GWh a year by 2025 solely to fit its own e-fleet with lithium-ion batteries. To cater for that enormous demand, the Volkswagen Group has initiated an invitation to tender for long-term strategic partnerships for China, Europe and the United States. "We're talking here about one of the largest procurement projects in our industry's history, one with a global order volume of more than EUR50bn over its term," said Müller.