Futuristic tech lined up for VW’S always-online ID family
MORE OFFICIAL DETAILS have emerged about Volkswagen’s new MEB electric vehicle platform (Modular Drive Electric Matrix), which is due to enter production in 2019. Cars underpinned by it will be produced at four different plants across Germany, with a total of €6 billion being invested in the brand’s electrification strategy.
The first car to go on sale will be the ID hatchback at an entry price of around £25,000 before any government grant. Pre-orders of the ID hatchback will start at the end of 2019, with deliveries in early 2020.
VW’S ID models will use a large head-up display for instrumentation. VW will also equip ID cars with augmented reality holographic-type menu systems.
There will be an all-new electrical architecture too: ID cars will be online at all times, boosting connectivity and allowing over-the-air software updates via a ‘back end’ digital platform for security.
As part of its ‘Electric for all’ campaign, the Volkswagen brand aims to sell 150,000 electric cars, including 100,000 ID models made in Germany, by 2020. Ten million vehicles will be produced in the first product life cycle, “creating massive economies of scale”. Volkswagen aims to sell one million EVS by 2025. By 2021, the plan is to be producing 1500 ID family vehicles per day. By the end of 2022, four of the group’s brands will be ramping up to 27 models.
Head of e-mobility production Christian Senger told Autocar there will also be plants in China, North America and the Czech Republic, where Skoda models will be produced. He said: “Within the first 12 months, there will be four plants running, producing four brands – Volkswagen, Skoda, Seat and Audi.”
Driving down cost is essential to get people to buy into EVS, said Senger. Cost reduction on the MEB platform will come not just from volume production and economies of scale lowering the cost of batteries (which account for 40% of an EV’S total cost), but also by paring costs throughout the vehicle. Costs in other areas of an MEB vehicle will be half that of the existing e-golf. The rising cost of conventional cars will also bring price parity. “The cost of combustionengine cars is rising because of emissions,” said Senger, adding that diesels will become less viable first, followed by petrol.
Volkswagen will guarantee a minimum of 70% usable battery capacity for seven years. Older batteries can be changed, swapped or re-used for energy storage. Senger predicts that batteries will be 97% recyclable beyond 2025.
The Volkswagen Group is also a partner with Ionity – together with Ford, Daimler and BMW – which intends to launch 2400 high-power (up to 350kw) charging points across mainland Europe and the UK by 2020.