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Volkswagen AG’s Audi luxury-car brand is in talks to add China’s BYD Co. as a supplier of batteries used in its premium electric vehicles, according to people familiar with the matter.

Electric vehicles and solar tend to get lumped together as partners in the climate-friendly push to phase out fossil fuels. Now they’re competing head-to-head for high-tech components that have been in short supply.

The U.S. push to challenge China’s dominance in the production and sale of electric vehicles has at least one weak link: Most of the raw materials needed to make the batteries are dug elsewhere.

All major truck builders and several startups are preparing to develop, test and market either battery-electric vehicles or fuel-cell/battery models in the very near term. Replacing diesel-powered Class 8 trucks, though, will present numerous challenges to an industry accustomed to proven and reliable diesel-­engine technology.

Volkswagen’s Chattanooga, Tenn., electric vehicle assembly plant will use batteries produced at a $1.67 billion factory in Georgia.

As electric vehicle technology becomes increasingly viable for commercial trucking, fleets and manufacturers are preparing to put the first generation of battery-electric trucks on the road.

Samsung plans to build a $62 million electric vehicle battery pack factory in Auburn Hills, Mich., that will create more than 400 jobs, the Michigan Economic Development Corporation announced.

Albemarle Corp., the world’s largest lithium producer, is planning to expand production in Australia, chasing the market for a form of the metal increasingly being used by the makers of electric car batteries.

A technology developed by researchers at Purdue University could provide an “instantly rechargeable” method that is safe, affordable and environmentally friendly for recharging electric and hybrid vehicle batteries, according to the West Lafayette, Ind., school.