Mexican Media Brands
VW's New EV Platform Cuts Costs by 40%
Volkswagen AG says a new chassis design made it 40% cheaper to electrify its ID.3 small car than to turn a conventional vehicle into an EV.
#hybrid
Share
Volkswagen AG says a new chassis design made it 40% cheaper to electrify its ID.3 small car than to turn a conventional Golf into an EV.
The savings come by using a dedicated EV platform—VW’s new MEB (modular electric toolkit) architecture (right), CEO Herbert Diess tells investors. He attributes most of the cost reduction to the platform’s integrated design and optimization for the battery and other components.
VW launched production of the ID.3, which is slightly larger than the Golf, earlier this month at its Zwickau, Germany, factory. That facility now will be used exclusively to assemble EVs, a step Diess says reduces production costs by another 5% to 10%.
Next autumn, VW also will begin making the ID.3 at the company’s Glaserne Manufaktur plant in Dresden. That facility previously produced the e-Golf and Phaeton luxury sedan.
In Europe, the new EV will be base-priced at less than €30,000. There are no plans to sell the ID.3 in the U.S.
RELATED CONTENT
-
On Military Trucks, Euro Car Sales, Mazda Drops and More
Did you know Mack is making military dump trucks from commercial vehicles or that Ford tied with Daimler in Euro vehicle sales or the Mazda6 is soon to be a thing of the past or Alexa can be more readily integrated or about Honda’s new EV strategy? All that and more are found here.
-
UPS to Test Electric Delivery Truck
United Parcel Services of America Inc. is partnering with Los Angeles startup Thor Trucks Inc. to test a fully electric Class 6 delivery truck.
-
Study: Nearly 60% of EV Sales in 2035 Will Be in China
Global demand for electric vehicles will multiply by a factor of 15 to 11.3 million units by 2035, with the Chinese market generating 57% of the total, according to the Fuji-Keizai Group.