Battery manufacturer LG Chem has signed a letter of intent to supply electric vehicle batteries to Volkswagen. That follows the latter’s announcement of an expansion in output to 16 factories and the signing of $25 billion of battery contracts. LG Chem may already be restructuring its supply chain in response. Exports from its Chinese operations surged 4.3x in the fourth quarter of 2017 on a year earlier and reached a new record in December.