Volkswagen Group now planning 22M EVs in ten years; 70 new electric models by 2028

The Volkswagen Group is now planning to launch almost 70 new electric models in the next ten years instead of the 50 previously planned. As a result, the projected number of vehicles to be built on the Group’s electric platforms in the next decade will increase from 15 million to 22 million.

Further, Volkswagen has signed off a comprehensive decarbonization program aimed at achieving a fully CO2-neutral balance in all areas from fleet to production to administration by 2050. Volkswagen is thus fully committed to the Paris climate targets.

The targets of the Paris Agreement are our yardstick. We will be systematically aligning production and other stages in the value chain to CO2 neutrality in the coming years. That is how we will be making our contribution towards limiting global warming. Volkswagen is seeking to provide individual mobility for millions of people for years to come—individual mobility that is safer, cleaner and fully connected. In order to shoulder the investments needed for the electric offensive we must make further improvements in efficiency and performance in all areas.

—Dr. Herbert Diess, CEO of Volkswagen AG

The Volkswagen Group has set milestones in all areas to be achieved in the coming years on the road to complete decarbonization by 2050. The measures follow three principles:

1. Effective and sustainable CO2 reduction.
2. Switch to renewable energy sources for power supply.
3. Compensate for remaining emissions that cannot be avoided.

In order to improve the CO2 balance of vehicles throughout their lifecycle, for example, Volkswagen has already made a start on the supply chain. A detailed roadmap is currently being drawn up. There is particularly significant potential as regards steel and aluminum supplies.

The 2025 target is to reduce the CO2 footprint of the vehicle fleet by 30 percent across the lifecycle compared to 2015. Volkswagen is therefore electrifying the vehicle portfolio, with investment in this area alone amounting to more than €30 billion (US$33.8 billion) by 2023. The share of electric vehicles in the Group fleet is to rise to at least 40% by 2030.

The first of the new-generation electric vehicles go into production this year: the AUDI e-tron will be followed by the Porsche Taycan. Reservations for each of these models already total 20,000 units.

Electric vehicles will be brought into the mainstream with the ramp up of the Volkswagen ID. Other models in this first wave will be the ID. CROZZ, the SEAT el-Born, the ŠKODA Vision E, the ID. BUZZ , and the ID. VIZZION.

Volkswagen selected LG Chem, SKI, CATL and Samsung as strategic battery cell suppliers to support the electric offensive. In view of the constantly increasing demand, Volkswagen is also taking a close look at possible participation in battery cell manufacturing facilities in Europe. Looking further ahead, solid-state batteries also have great potential. Volkswagen’s goal is to enable an industrial level of production with this technology together with its partner QuantumScape. (Earlier post.)

At the same time, CO2 emissions at all plants are to be cut 50% by 2025 compared with 2010. The conversion of the power station in Wolfsburg from coal to gas will reduce CO2 emissions by 1.5 million tonnes annually from 2023 onwards. Audi’s production activities at the Brussels site are already completely CO2-neutral. The Zwickau plant will not only be the lead factory for the Modular Electric Drive Toolkit (MEB); the ID. built there will be delivered to customers with a CO2-neutral balance.

The MEB lies at the heart of Volkswagen’s electric offensive. The cost of e-mobility can be significantly lowered through partnerships to enable the widest possible spread of the MEB and the associated economies of scale. That makes individual mobility affordable and usable for the mainstream in the future as well. One example of such a partnership is the planned cooperation with Aachen-based e.GO Mobile AG recently announced at the Geneva International Motor Show. (Earlier post.)

To boost e-mobility further, Volkswagen will be installing 400 fast-charging stations along Europe's major roads and highways by 2020 in collaboration with industry partners in IONITY. 100 of these will be located in Germany. That means there will be a station every 120 kilometers. Elli (Electric Life), Volkswagen’s new subsidiary, will also offer wallboxes for charging at home, using green power—initially in Germany. In addition, there will be 3,500 charging points on employee car parks at all plants with further charging opportunities at dealerships.

e-Tron SUV Will Represent “First Real Premium Manufacturer Doing A Premium Electric SUV,” Claims Audi Exec

While discussing the release next year of the company’s all-electric e-Tron SUV, a top Audi exec (Dietmar Voggenreiter, sales and marketing boss) commented that the model will represent “the first real premium manufacturer doing a premium electric SUV.”

I guess that the Tesla Model X doesn’t count? Or is just that Tesla isn’t a “real premium manufacturer?” Seems a strange comment to make, as the Model X is very likely to be superior to the Audi e-Tron SUV in every or nearly every way. Though, I guess that some people may agree with Dietmar.

As a reminder, Audi claims that its all-electric SUV will possess a range of more than 500 kilometers (~310 miles) per full charge. It seems very likely, however, based on earlier comments from company execs concerning other models, that this figure is in reference to the not-very-accurate NEDC testing cycle.

Also noteworthy here is that there’s a real chance that Jaguar will beat Audi to market anyways — with the I-Pace very possibly being available for purchase before the Audi e-Tron SUV. In such a case, the statement by Voggenreiter would be doubly untrue.

Another strange comment that he made was: “It’s not our job to invest in charging points. We are pushing and organising this, though, and working with partners on it,” when discussing investments into a pan-Europe fast-charging network.

Perhaps it isn’t “the company’s job,” but there’s no doubt that Tesla’s extensive Supercharger network is one of the company’s main selling points, so maybe this should be an Audi priority. Maybe Audi wouldn’t be losing market share if it had considered superfast charging to be part of “the company’s job.”

Maybe these comments are just the result of English being Voggenreiter’s second language, but they have a quality to them that rubs me the wrong way — the same quality that I hear in statements from Volkswagen company execs when discussing the diesel emissions testing fraud scandal. I would call it the sound of entitlement and arrogance.

Autocar provides more: “The size of the e-tron suggests it’s a Q6 in all but name, but Voggenreiter hinted the Q6 was a separate project altogether. He cited speculation that the Q6 should be a ‘fourdoor coupé SUV’ based on the Q5 in a similar style to the Q8 being spun off the Q7. But he said the e-tron isn’t the Q6, because it’s ‘not a four-door coupé SUV. It’s a sporty SUV’.”

So, what do you think? Have I read something into Voggenreiter’s comments that isn’t there? Or are the comments indicative of an attitude that will lead to Audi losing a lot of market share over the coming years?