Porsche on the hunt for an EV battery deal
Porsche is said to have been weighing bids from Panasonic and Bosch for a long-range electric vehicle battery, as it prepares to take on Tesla with an all-electric sports car. According to unidentified insiders, costs for the package offered by Bosch would be higher than competing technology from Panasonic (which already supplies Tesla), however Bosch has the advantage of less-complex logistics. Porsche CEO, Oliver Blume said, "We're in the final stage of making a decision."

FRANKFURT (Bloomberg) -- Porsche AG has been weighing bids from Panasonic Corp. and Robert Bosch GmbH for a long-range battery as it prepares to challenge Tesla Motors Inc. with an all-electric sports car, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg.

Costs for the package offered by crosstown neighbor Bosch would be higher than the competing technology from Japanese peer Panasonic, which supplies Tesla’s batteries, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the talks are confidential. The advantage to Bosch’s offer would be less-complex logistics.

“We’re in the final stage of making a decision,” Porsche CEO Oliver Blume said in an interview last week at the Geneva auto show. He declined to comment on the suppliers being considered.

The unit of Volkswagen AG, Europe’s largest automaker, earmarked 1 billion euros ($1.1 billion) to build its first battery-powered sports car in December. It’s part of the parent company’s broader push for more low-emission electric and hybrid cars. Volkswagen has sped up its electric efforts since admitting six months ago it had cheated on emissions tests for diesel cars.

Audi CEO Rupert Stadler said a week ago the company, a fellow Volkswagen unit, will purchase batteries for its electric vehicles from Korean suppliers LG Chem Ltd. and Samsung Electronics Co., who have plans in place to start producing battery cells in Europe.

With the Volkswagen scandal throwing the long-term future of diesel into question, other carmakers are also turning anew to electric cars. Daimler AG’s Mercedes-Benz said last week it will invest 500 million euros ($560 million) to build a second battery factory in Germany because it expects demand to pick up.

Porsche’s electric sports car will be based on the low-slung Mission E concept shown at the Frankfurt auto show six months ago. Set to be produced near the automaker’s German headquarters in Stuttgart, the new model will create some 1,000 jobs.

A spokesman for Porsche referred to the brand’s annual earnings conference, scheduled Friday morning, and declined to comment beforehand. Bosch declined to comment. Yayoi Watanabe, a spokeswoman for Panasonic, declined to comment.