Daimler to buy nearly $23B worth of electric car battery cells

German luxury car maker Daimler, parent company of Mercedes-Benz, on Tuesday said it would buy battery cells worth more than 20 billion euros ($22.75 billion) by 2030 as it readies mass production of hybrid and electric vehicles.

"With the purchase of battery cells for more than 20 billion euros, we are systematically pushing forward with the transformation into the electric future of our company," Chief Executive Dieter Zetsche said in a statement.

Mercedes-Benz Cars plans to offer 130 electric and hybrid vehicles by 2022 in addition to making electric vans, buses and trucks.

The carmaker did not specify which companies it would buy from.

It manufactures its own battery packs, which are made by Deutsche Accumotive in Kamenz, Germany, among other places, but sources battery cells from various suppliers including South Korea's LG Chem and SK Innovation.

($1 = 0.8790 euros)

(Reporting by Edward Taylor; editing by Jason Neely)