A harmful chemical discovered in a component could force the Volkswagen Group to recall 124,000 electric and hybrid cars from its VW, Audi and Porsche brands.

A carcinogenic metal called cadmium was discovered in a charger supplied to the group for all-electric and plug-in hybrids made by VW, Audi, and Porsche from 2013.

The Volkswagen Group is currently in discussions with Germany's Federal Motor Transport Authority, Kraftfahrtbundesamt (KBA), over a potential recall.

The manufacturer informed KBA last month that the part contained 0.008 grams of cadmium per device.