The Volkswagen Group confirmed that they are scouting locations in the US in order to potentially build an electric car factory to support the MEB platform for an affordable $30,000 to $40,000 electric vehicle.
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Today, Volkswagen is announcing that it is converting two more factories to electric vehicle production and it is partnering with SK Innovation for battery cells.
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Volkswagen is currently trying to figure out a way to secure large quantities of battery cells to support its critical electric vehicle ambitions.
After previously ruling out manufacturing its own battery cell, the German automaker is now reportedly going to build its own battery cell gigafactory (a battery factory with an output in the GWh) in partnership with SK Innovation.
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VW started construction on its first factory specifically designed for the production of its new MEB platform for all-electric vehicles.
The new factory will be in China and it will have a capacity of 300,000 cars per year.
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Legacy automakers are announcing and unveiling new electric vehicles at an impressive pace these days, but there isn’t as much talk about the production volumes of those upcoming EVs.
Now VW says that it is planning a capacity of 100,000 electric cars per year for its first plant to go electric.
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After forming ‘Electrify America’ last year in order to comply with their settlement with the EPA and CARB over the Dieselgate scandal, Volkswagen set out to make a large investment in electric vehicle charging infrastructure in the US.
Now Volkswagen is now doing the same in Canada with a new subsidiary called ‘Electrify Canada’.
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As the name implies, VW built the all-electric Volkswagen I.D. R Pikes Peak race car for the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb.
But now that they broke the record with the car, they want to try the impressive electric vehicle on other circuits.
They’ve announced that they are going for the Goodwood electric vehicle record in the UK.
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The Volkswagen I.D. R Pikes Peak, an all-electric race car custom built to conquer the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, broke the overall record during the famous racing event last month.
Now VW has released an impressive video of the record-breaking run filmed from a helicopter that can barely keep up with the electric race car.
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Over the last few years, there has been an impressive amount of investment into solid-state batteries, which are believed by many to represent the next step in energy storage.
But a timeline for commercialization has never been clear.
Now Volkswagen has become the latest automaker to invest in solid-state batteries for electric cars as it takes a stake in a startup that hopes to bring the tech to market.
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There has been a lot of hype around the Volkswagen I.D. R Pikes Peak, an all-electric race car, ahead of the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb.
Now the vehicle looks to back it up with a good performance and it is off to an impressive start as it sets the fastest time in Pikes Peak’s qualifying round.
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Strong regulations to encourage electric vehicle adoption in Europe and China are expected to have a major impact on the auto industry in the next few years.
VW thinks it will create enough electric vehicle demand to help them beat their goal to make 1 million electric vehicles per year by 2025.
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Volkswagen is not starting its electric vehicle push in a big way until next year, but it is already securing its battery supplies in order to be able to build those new EVs in volume.
After announcing that it already awarded $25 billion in battery cell contracts, the German automaker announced this week that it has now doubled the amount to about $48 billion.
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Volkswagen is preparing a major electric vehicle effort with its new MEB platform supporting a series of new models starting in 2020.
Now, the German automaker announced this week that it contracted its Braunschweig plant to produce ‘up to 500,000 EV battery packs per year.’
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As we discussed in the latest episode of the Electrek Podcast, Volkswagen’s electric car efforts mostly consist of press releases and concept vehicles at this time, but they seem quite serious about it based on their investments.
Today, the company unveiled its electric vehicle production plans with 16 production sites and a massive ~$25 billion investment in battery cell contracts.
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Over the last year, Volkswagen has been unveiling a series of electric vehicle concepts that serve as the basis of its new generation of production electric vehicles coming in 2020.
Today, VW released the first images of its latest EV concept – an all-electric sedan with autonomous driving capability.
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Volkswagen’s design head Klaus Bischoff has said that the company is using Apple’s approach to guide future electric car designs beyond the I.D. concept seen above.
Bischoff said that there was a purity, clarity and significance to Apple’s designs …
Volkswagen is investing heavily in electric vehicles after slowing down its diesel program following the ‘Dieselgate’ scandal.
The German automaker now says that its Zwickau factory in Saxony, Germany is going to be a major hub for the production of its next-generation electric cars.
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Volkswagen, which was at the center of the ‘Dieselgate’ scandal that exposed diesel engines as not being as clean as some automakers led regulators to believe, is now suggesting a phase-out of the huge diesel subsidies offered in Europe.
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Volkswagen updated its electric vehicle effort in China this week with the announcement of a new investment schedule of $12 billion over the next 7 years with its joint-venture partner.
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Volkswagen has been heavily investing in batteries in order to support its planned ramp-up of electric vehicle production starting next year.
Their efforts have so far been focused on actual battery production and securing the rarer raw materials needed, like cobalt, but they are also exploring more future-oriented options to improve batteries at the technological level.
Today, VW is announcing a partnership with Google to use quantum computers to improve electric car batteries and others parts of the future of transportation, like traffic optimization and new machine learning processes.
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Volkswagen has been making a lot of noise about electric cars lately. Announcing huge investments and new concept models, trying to recover their reputation after the dieselgate scandal. Its newest electric push comes from somewhere new: racing. While VW group has been involved in electrified racing before, with the Audi Formula E team and with several wins from Audi’s retired hybrid Le Mans car, the Volkswagen brand hasn’t yet undertaken electric racing on their own.
This changes next year, when Volkswagen will enter a car into the famous – and difficult – Pike’s Peak International Hill Climb. Details are light on VW’s entry, all we have to go on so far is a silhouette – pictured above – and a promise of all-wheel-drive. But it’s clear that VW are going after the electric prototype record – 8:57.118 by Rhys Millen in the Drive eO PP03. That car had over a megawatt of power available (1367hp), so expect VW’s entry to have similar horsepower if it wants any chance of getting that record.
VW is the latest automaker to leverage its electric vehicle investments into developing electric powertrains for its trucks and buses.
The company announced a new $1.7 billion investment into the technology over the next 5 years.
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Volkswagen updated its plans for electric cars with a complete overhaul of its investment strategy.
After announcing an initial investment of $10 billion in EVs earlier this year, which was still smaller than the German automaker’s investments in gas-powered cars, they now promise to spend up to 70 billion euros (~$84 billion USD) in order to bring 300 electric vehicle models to market by 2030.
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Matthias Müller took the helms of Volkswagen following the Dieselgate scandal and he quickly positioned the German automaker to push for electric cars, but he is now reportedly facing an internal backlash from the company’s leadership, which is not entirely sold on electric vehicles.
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