VW EVs: Automaker to spend billions on developing zero-emissions vehicles

80 models of VW EVs rolled out by 2030: Company

Volkswagen is making the shift into the electric vehicle market and the German automaker says it will spend over 20 billion euros on developing zero-emissions VW EVs.

By 2025, Volkswagen says it will unveil 80 new electric cars across its multi-brand group by 2025, considerably higher than its previous goal of 30.  By 2030, WV says it will offer an electric version of each of its 300 group models.

In 2015, the company was embroiled in “dieselgate”. US EPA emissions testing showed VW had intentionally programmed its TDI diesel engines to activate some emissions controls during laboratory testing.  The programming allowed the vehicles to meet US nitrogen oxides (NO_x) standards while under testing, however, the vehicles actually emitted up to 40 times more NO_x in real world driving.

Prior to the scandal, the company was slow to embrace EVs and self-driving technology.  Following the 2015 emissions scandal, the company pivoted to the development of zero-emissions vehicles.

WV joins a number of automakers speeding up development of electric vehicles.

“A company like Volkswagen must lead, not follow,” Reuters reports VW Chief Executive Matthias Mueller told reporters prior to the Frankfurt auto show where he unveiled the group’s “roadmap E”.

“We are setting the scene for the final breakthrough for e-mobility.”

The company says its I.D. model will compete head-to-head with Tesla’s USD$35,000 Model 3 sedan.

VW has begun a tendering process for finding partners in China, Europe and North America to provide battery cells and other technology worth over 50 billion euros.

The company says to power its fleet of EVs, it will require capacity equivalent to four gigafactories similar to the one built by Tesla in Nevada.

Speaking with Reuters, Mueller said VW does not need to sell any assets to fund its move to EVs.

‎“No, not at all,” he said. “Although we have suffered financially in the past two years because of the diesel issue, we are positioned well enough in financial terms to be able to shoulder these investments without problems.”

VW EVs will centre around the new MEB modular platform which will underpin all mass-market electric vehicles from across the group.

The company says it will have a Golf-style compact model with a driving range of about 600 Km by 2020.

VW joins Daimler, maker of Mercedes-Benz automobiles, in offering electric motors for all its models by 2022.  Mercedes-Benz warned that the move to lower-margin EVs required extra cost savings.

BMW said it is preparing to mass produce electric vehicles by 2020 and pledged to have 12 battery-powered EV models for sale by 2025.

With automakers moving to EV’s, big investments in charging points and power networks are necessary to meet growing demand for electricity.

Britain is grappling with its power supply as a number of coal-fired plants go offline in the coming years and aging nuclear plants shut down.  The cost of building new power plants in England will be borne by private investors, few of whom have decided to enter the challenging market.