VW’S electric future
Group targets 70 EV models
The Volkswagen Group is aiming to sell 22 million fully electric vehicles over the next 10 years and has 70 different models in the pipeline, up from the 50 it had previously planned.
The VW Group, whose brands include Audi, Bentley, Bugatti, Porsche, Seat, Skoda and Volkswagen, had set the initial target of 50 EV models by 2030 in 2017. It now says that, by 2025, VW’S fleet CO2 footprint will be 30% lower than in 2015, with the total investment in electrification reaching £22 billion by 2023.
The first two VW Group EVS to go on sale will be the Audi E-tron and Porsche Taycan. The firm says it has received around 20,000 ‘expressions of interest’ for each.
These will be followed by models based on the new MEB electric architecture, including the VW ID hatch, Crozz, Buzz and Vizzion, the Seat el-born and a production version of the Skoda Vision E. The MEB vehicles will have a maximum range of 340 miles.
Volkswagen boss Herbert Diess said the planned range expansion will increase the projected number of full EVS the group will build by 2030 from 15 million to 22 million, making up around 40% of the group’s vehicle fleet. He added the new goal was part of an effort to make the VW Group Co2-neutral by 2050.
Car manufacturers are facing increasingly tough CO2 targets, and Diess said the VW Group’s goal was in line with those set out in the Paris Agreement on climate change, which set the target to make Europe Co2-neutral by 2050.
Diess said that “VW is changing fundamentally”, adding: “This supertanker is picking up speed and is becoming faster and more agile. VW is evolving from car maker to software company.”
By 2022, VW will have 13 EV factories on three continents producing electric cars. The first Meb-based VW ID hatch will roll off the line at the refitted Zwickau plant at the end of this year.
VW is investigating partnerships with other companies to licence the MEB platform, and is looking to work with both major rivals and small firms, such as the recently announced tie-up with e.go Mobile.
Diess announced the expansion of the group’s EV plans while revealing its 2018 financial results. The VW Group delivered 10.8 million vehicles last year, up from 10.77 million in 2017, with sales revenue rising slightly to £200.7 billion. That was despite struggles to ready its range for the new WLTP test procedure and the Chinese market decline.