VW accelerates shift to electric cars and will have to do so again

VW has announced that it is accelerating its shift to electric vehicles. While it is one of the most aggressive plans to date, we expect that they will have to “accelerate” it again.

Today, Volkswagen announced its “ACCELERATE” strategy, which, as the name suggests, consists of ramping up its electrification and digitization plans.

The main announcement is that VW accelerated its targets for the mix of all-electric vehicles in its sales:

• By 2030, the company will double the share of e-cars in Europe from the previously planned 35% to 70% of sales.
• In the US and China, the share of electrically powered vehicles is to rise to 50% by 2030. 

These are some of the most aggressive targets among major automakers to date.

Ralf Brandstätter, CEO of VW passenger cars, commented on the announcement:

When it comes to electromobility, we are well on the way to becoming the world market leader. The system change to an electric car is just the beginning. The really big disruption is still ahead of us.

Volkswagen is taking responsibility for the climate and will significantly exceed the planned EU regulation. Of all the major manufacturers, Volkswagen has the best chance of winning the race. While competitors are still in the middle of the electric transformation, we are taking big steps toward digital transformation. Just as we have boldly moved forward on the topic of e-mobility, we are also tackling the other issues of the future.

It means that the German automaker is preparing to convert more factories from internal combustion engine vehicle production to electric vehicle production in order to be ready to produce millions of electric vehicles in the second half of the decade.

Electrek’s Take

While I applaud VW for being more aggressive than most here, I think they will have to “accelerate” their “accelerate strategy” again in the next few years.

By 2030, no one in their right mind is going to want to buy a vehicle with an internal combustion engine.

It won’t make sense. There will be too many great all-electric options for many years, so the customer mind-set will completely shift and the resale value of a gasoline vehicle is going to be extremely low.

In my opinion, it means that VW is currently planning for 30-50% of its production capacity to be worthless by the end of the decade.

They are going to have to readjust that.