Low-volume EV start-up secures VW MEB platform deal
GERMAN START-UP e.go Mobile has become the first company to secure the rights to use the Volkswagen Group’s MEB platform as the basis for its own electric vehicles. Volkswagen is gearing up to launch the first Meb-based vehicle, the ID hatch, later this year but has been open about its desire to provide the platform to other firms to build their own vehicles on. The VW-E.GO tie-up was announced at the Geneva motor show, where VW revealed its ID Buggy concept. German firm e.go, founded in 2015 and the maker of a lowcost electric city car called the Life, is also in the running to build a production version of the Buggy on behalf of VW in a low-volume production run. The e.go version would be engineered and built for VW using the company’s expertise as a low-volume specialist, with VW providing the architecture and running gear. The Buggy is one of three models that VW is assessing for low-volume production using e.go’s expertise. More low-volume models are likely because electric ‘skateboard’ architectures are more easily adaptable and viable at lower production runs through licensed third parties. E.GO will use the MEB architecture on a supermini called the Life L. It mixes an aluminium spaceframe body and plastic panels with the VW running gear. The firm also plans to use MEB components in the entry-level Life, although at 3.35m long, that car is too small to be wholly based on the MEB platform.