VW to build 50 million EVs
Volkswagen could build up to 50 million electric cars on its new electric vehicle platform and is looking at expanding its manufacturing footprint in the United States, chief executive Herbert Diess told Automotive News.
“We set up the plant in Chattanooga always with the idea to be able to grow it, to mirror it,” Diess said, according to Reuters.
“The plant is still too small, and we are considering different options - it might be electric cars, it might be a different derivative of the Atlas (SUV) - it’s still open.
Volkswagen is also open to licensing its MEB electric car platform to third-party manufacturers as a way to ramp-up economies of scale.
MEB is a modular car platform for electric cars developed by the Volkswagen Group and its subsidiaries. The architecture is aimed to consolidate electronic controls and reduce the number of microprocessors, advance the application of new driver-assistance technology and alter the way cars are built by the Volkswagen Group.
“Today, we have hundreds of different drivetrains in our industry, and there’s a lot of differentiation in the drivetrain. I think this will become less, because the battery cells will become very similar on the basis of the same chemistry inside.
According to Reuters, he said Volkswagen could build 50 million electric vehicles globally across its brands, beginning in 2020, and had battery sourcing agreements for them. He said licensing MEB to other automakers would lead to further efficiency gains.
“It will be more about the economies of scale. Still, the battery pack, for the foreseeable future, will be more expensive than a combustion powertrain, so I think it makes a lot of sense to make more volume,” Diess said.
