Channel: NeoScribe

Category: Science & Technology

Tags: tesla competitionvolkswagen evvolkswagen id serieselectric vehiclesbusinessev newsvolkswagen electic vehiclesvolkswagen id buzzvolkswagen idvolkswagen newsother ev companies besides teslavolkswagenvolkswagen ev strategyauto industry

Description: Hello, welcome to NeoScribe. In the coming decade, we will be seeing more and more electric vehicles on the road. And it appears that a large percentage will come from the Volkswagen Group who has the most aggressive EV strategy of all of the big auto manufacturers around the world. The strategy is called RoadMap E, and it’s nothing short of epic as they plan to have 50 fully electric vehicle models by 2025! 50! To illustrate how insane that number is, Tesla will only have 6 models by the time it starts selling the model Y and their pickup truck. To be fair, they talking about the total Volkswagen Group which encompasses 12 different brands including Audi and Porsche. But it’s still exciting to know that there will be so many EV options to choose from 7 years from now. Another target for 2025 is they expect to be selling up to 3 million EVs per year by then making up to 25% of sales. And in order to build all of those vehicles, Volkswagen plans to build 16 electric car assembly plants by 2022. Most of the plants will be built in various locations in Europe but there will be 2 in China, and at least one in North America. One of the plants have already begun construction in China and I slated to be completed by 2020. So, it seems that Volkswagen is well on its way to reaching its ambitious production goal by 2025. But Volkswagen also needs to prepare for securing batteries for all of these EVs. According to the company, they will need 150 gigawatt-hours of annual battery production in order to power all of those vehicles which is equivalent to at least four TESLA Gigafactory’s. They won’t be building their own battery factories like Tesla. Instead, in May of this year, Volkswagen awarded $48 BILLION in long-term contracts with EV Battery Manufactures. They didn’t disclose which companies were awarded the contracts, but some of the likely candidates are LG, Samsung, and Panasonic. And the idea behind these contracts is to propel the battery manufactures to invest in their own production capacity so that they can grow as Volkswagen electric vehicle production ramps up in the coming years. The other key element of Volkswagen’s EV strategy is the modular electric drive matrix or MEB, based on the German translation. The MEB is one of the most important projects in the history of Volkswagen and according to the company, the platform will enable their vision to bring more affordable EVs to market. The concept behind the architecture of the MEB is to consolidate electronic controls, reduce the number of microprocessors, advance the application of new driver-assistance technology. It will have a standard range of 322 km or an upgraded pack with a range of 483 km. According to Volkswagen, the charging time is as little as 30 minutes for 80% of the maximum range but I imagine that is at a special charging station. Anyway, the MEB will be the platform for EV across Volkswagen Groups various brands along with the Volkswagon branded EVs called the I.D. Series. The I.D. series will be a full array of vehicle types including a hatchback, a sedan, a sports car, and a crossover. But I’m most excited about the I.D. Buzz, which is a futuristic interpretation of the classic Volkswagen Bus. It’s supposed to come out in 2022, and all I can say is, I want one! So, if Volkswagon’s epic EV strategy isn’t enough, they are even looking to team up with another company to ensure their place in the EV market. Volkswagen and Ford are currently holding exploratory talks with each other that could lead to jointly developing self-driving and electric vehicles. The potential alliance would save both companies billions of dollars in R&D, and another part of it is Volkswagen sharing the MEB platform to be used on Ford’s vehicles as well. So, Volkswagen has thrown down the Gauntlet, and they’re aiming to be THE ABSOLUTE Leader in the EV industry. We will have to see how that plays out, but at the end of the day, it’s going to be so cool to have many EV options to choose from. Bring out the ID BUZZ ALREADY! Alright, that’s all I have for now. I hope you enjoyed your journey, if you did, please leave a like and subscribe. I am NeoScribe and I’ll see you on the next journey.