Volkswagen is expected to explain in more details its impressive plan to build 2 to 3 million all-electric cars a year and unveil 30 new models by 2025. One of the first models will be unveiled at the 2016 Paris Motor show, which starts the first week of October, and VW released today a teaser for the vehicle.
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The Volkswagen Group has been increasing its efforts in the electric vehicle segment ever since the ‘DieselGate’ scandal. Mostly through its new mission to build 2 to 3 million all-electric cars a year and unveil 30 new models by 2025.
Today, we learn that that the German automaker signed a joint venture memorandum of understanding with China’s Anhui Jianghuai Automobile Co. that would effectively allow VW to accelerate their production of electric vehicles by mass producing them in China as well as sharing technology with the local manufacturers to increase the amount of EVs in the country.
Back in May, we shared a report from German newspaper Handelsblatt, which has often produced reliable insider reports on the German auto industry, citing insider sources saying that Volkswagen was about to present to its board of directors a plan to build a ‘multi-billion euro battery factory’.
In a new interview with the same newspaper this week, VW CEO Matthias Müller denies plans for the giant electric vehicle battery factory.
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The Annual North American Concept Vehicle of the Year Awards gave the ‘2016 Concept Truck of the Year’ award to Volkswagen for the BUDD-e all-electric minibus concept. BUDD-e is a bit polarizing. While most EV enthusiasts would be happy to see a “microbus” with a 100 kWh battery pack, the design of the vehicle generally hasn’t been well-received and reminds of people of the ‘weirdmobile’ stigma attached to EVs, but the panel of automotive journalists acting as judges for the award disagreed.
Either way, it’s interesting to see an all-electric vehicle win the award for ‘Concept Truck of the Year’. That must be a first.
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A new research report from Lux Research looked into the projected growth of the battery sector for electric vehicles (BEVs and PHEVs) and concluded that the market will rise to $10 Billion in 2020 with six large carmakers led by Tesla accounting for 90% of the demand.
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Earlier this year – not long after the Dieselgate scandal – the Volkswagen Group announced a new direction for its lineup of vehicles with a plan to introduce 20 new electric vehicles through the group’s brands by the end of the decade.
Today, the automaker extended the timeline to 2025 and said that it will introduce “more than 30 new electric vehicles during the next 10 years”. Earlier this year, CEO Matthias Müller was talking about both all-electric and plug-in hybrids, but now he is making a statement to go all-electric and confirmed that the “more than 30 new models” will all be “purely battery-powered electric vehicles (BEVs)”.
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Tesla’s brand has significantly increased in value over the past year, especially since the Model 3 unveiling and the more than 373,000 reservations it received. On the other hand, Volkswagen’s brand took a big hit following the ‘Dieselgaste’ scandal, so much so that Tesla has now surpassed the company’s VW brand in “brand value”.
BrandZ published its annual report of the 100 most valuable brands and Tesla knocked VW out of the top 10 in the car category.
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German newspaper Handelsblatt, which has often produced reliable insider reports on the German auto industry, now cites insider sources saying that Volkswagen is about to present to its board of directors a plan to build a ‘multi-billion euro battery factory’.
The publication suggests that the plan is likely to be approved.
The battery cell supply chain is close to the number one priority of any automaker looking to manufacture electric vehicles in high volume. Ever since the ‘Dieselgate’ scandal, VW has been under pressure to introduce more electric vehicles to its lineup and earlier this year, it announced plans to introduce 20 new electric vehicles through the group’s brands by the end of the decade.
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There’s been some confusion about the imminent upgrade to Volkswagen’s all-electric e-Golf versus its next generation expected to be available by the end of the decade. Dr. Volkmar Tanneberger, Head of Electric Vehicle Development at VW, cleared up some of the confusion this weekend during a press meeting for the Formula E race in Berlin.
The executive confirmed that the 2017 e-Golf will receive a battery upgrade by the end of the year and that it will allow for an NEDC rated range of 300 km (186 miles) on a single charge.
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At the Beijing Auto Show today, Volkswagen unveiled the new electric SUV it was teasing in a press release last week. The new plug-in hybrid SUV is called the T-Prime concept and it appears to be VW’s answer to the success of Mitsubishi’s Outlander PHEV.
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Vokswagen sent out a press release this morning with new images to tease an upcoming electric plug-in hybrid SUV concept to be unveiled at the Beijing Auto show next week.
The company describes the concept as a “premium SUV’ and it will release the concept under its VW brand – even though Volkswagen as another premium electric SUV, although all-electric, coming out under its luxury brand: Audi.
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Volkswagen has been trying to improve its brand image since the ‘DieselGate’ scandal last year, and part of the effort to remedy the situation has been to reiterate its commitment to electric vehicles. CEO Matthias Müller has since announced that the group’s brands will introduce 20 new electric vehicles by the end of the decade.
More recently, VW decided to showcase its EV initiatives through a public event at its ‘Transparent Factory’ in Dresden.
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Volkswagen recently confirmed (via Autoblog) that it is recalling certain model year 2015-2016 e-Golf vehicles manufactured between May 21, 2014 and March 1, 2016. We are talking about 5,561 units potentially affected. The problem is in the battery management system (BMS) which can falsely detect an electrical surge and shutdown the electric drive as a result.
The fix is fairly simple: a visit at your local dealership for a BMS software update.
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Last year, Tesla CEO Elon Musk and 38 company and environmental group leaders signed a letter proposing that the California Air Resources Board (CARB) lets VW off the hook in California for having cheated on reporting emissions in its diesel cars and in return, VW would be forced to significantly invest in electric vehicles or other zero-emission vehicles manufacturing in the state.
According to German newspaper Welt am Sonntag (via Reuters), the EPA, potentially inspired by the proposal, asked Volkswagen to manufacture electric vehicles at its Tennessee plant as part of the current negotiation over the fix of the more than 500,000 diesel vehicles in violation of pollution limits in the US.
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Autocar is out with a new report today claiming inside information on Volkswagen’s first electric car to be built on the new MEB platform. MEB is the platform unveiled at CES last month and showcased in the company’s microbus concept: BUDD-e.
The platform will allow VW to bring to market electric vehicles made to be electric from the ground up. It is based on the now familiar concept of a large battery pack extending flat between the axles.
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Since the “Dieselgate” scandal, the Volkswagen group has promised to introduce several new electric vehicles in the coming years. CEO Matthias Müller is said to announce a new strategy this summer that will see the company bring to market 20 new electric vehicles (all-electric or plug-in hybrid) through the group’s 12 brands by the end of the decade.
The company also plans to build on its current limited lineup of electric cars, including the e-Golf, which should see a significant increase in range with the introduction of its next generation.
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Britain’s Car Magazine reports that Volkswagen’s BUDD-E electric vehicle has got the green light to go into production for 2020.
Volkswagen’s all-electric BUDD-e concept will make the jump into serial production, CAR understands. The VW BUDD-e concept, first seen at the 2016 Consumer Electronics Show (CES), is an ultramodern take on the VW ‘Microbus’ theme, built upon Volkswagen’s upcoming MEB modular electric platform. Dr Volkmar Tanneberger, head of electronic development and the driving force behind the BUDD-e concept, told CAR magazine’s Ben Barry: ‘[The] basic idea is to develop a modular toolkit and take this flat battery idea into serial production, one motor on the front, one on the rear. The California [camper van] and Transporter [panel van and minibus line] will continue separately as combustion engines.’ ‘You will see a car that looks a lot like this, on the MEB platform, reach production. I can’t say exactly when, but 2020 or thereabouts,’ says Tanneberger.
I’ve got mixed feelings about this. On one hand, the more electric vehicle options the better and we all know that the electrical vehicle market is lacking in van options. Also, it is clear from the popularity of the amazing eSamba project that there is a huge market for electric VW Busses.
The Volkswagen Group confirms this week that CEO Matthias Müller will introduce a new strategy for the company this summer and it will include plans to introduce 20 new electric vehicles through the group’s brands by the end of the decade.
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At the Detroit Auto Show this week, Volkswagen debuted the second generation concept of what it calls an ‘extreme off-road’ vehicle, the Tiguan GTE.
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VW head of electronic development Volkmar Tanneberger was at CES last week and revealed that the next generation all-electric e-Golf will see a roughly 30% increase in range, which should bring it to about 108 miles on a single charge.
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Due to Volkswagen’s and the Environmental Protection Agency’s incapacity to come to deal after discussions over how to fix the cars affected by the emissions tests cheating, the U.S. Department of Justice officially sued the German automaker on behalf of the EPA in federal court on Monday.
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We are kicking off the new year at Electrek with extensive coverage of everything electric vehicle related at CES in Las Vegas this week.
There might be a few surprises, but we made a quick list of the main events, especially the new electric cars debuting at the show, so you can have a good idea of what’s coming in the EV industry in the next few days:
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38 company and environmental group leaders, including Tesla CEO Elon Musk, signed an open letter proposing that the California Air Resources Board (CARB) lets VW off the hook in California for having cheated on reporting emissions in its diesel cars and in return, VW would be forced to significantly invest in electric vehicles or other zero-emission vehicles.
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Volkswagen’s Chairman of Passenger Cars Dr. Herbert Diess is scheduled to give a talk and unveil a new electric vehicle concept at the upcoming CES 2016. The company released a teaser picture (see above) for the concept and rumor has it, it could be a new electric version of VW’s flagship Type 2 minibus.
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