German automakers commit to massive battery purchases, sidestep some hard realities

2020 Mercedes-Benz EQCDaimler, the parent company of Mercedes-Benz, last week revealed that it will be buying $23 billion in battery cells by 2030. What it didn’t fully reveal—its sources for those cells—says as much, if not more about a point of unease among German automakers. Battery packs—and specifically the cells inside—are the single...