Enlarge /. Thomas Schmall, Member of the Board of Management of the Volkswagen Group for Technology and Chairman of the Board of Management of Components of the Volkswagen Group.
The Volkswagen Group is planning six new European lithium-ion battery factories with a total annual output of 240 GWh as soon as they are all operational in 2030. He announced this on Monday at an online "Power Day" event, where the latest developments were presented. Updating the electrification plan. In addition to the new factories, the company will move to a common prismatic cell design in 2023 to reduce battery costs and increase its investment in DC fast charging infrastructure.
"Electromobility has become a core business for us. We are now systematically integrating additional steps into the value chain. We are securing a long-term pole position in the race for the best battery and the best customer experience in the age of emission-free mobility," said VW Group Chairman Herbert Diess.
Some of the battery factories will be owned by the VW Group, such as the one in Salzgitter, Germany, which will develop a single design of prismatic cells for large-volume electric vehicles on the VW Group's MEB platform from 2025. Others are operated by suppliers; On Monday, Northvolt and the VW Group signed a $ 14 billion order for battery cells for premium electric vehicles, which Northvolt will produce at its plant in Skellefteå, Sweden, from 2023. Both plants will have an annual capacity of 40 GWh by 2030. (VW is also increasing its stake in Northvolt and Northvolt will sell its stake in the Salzgitter plant to the VW Group.)
A common cell design
VW's move to a single-cell design for the vast majority of its battery-electric vehicles should cut costs significantly, the company said. By 2030, up to 80 percent of BEVs will use the common cell design, and VW wants to reduce the cost of an entry-level car battery by 50 percent and the cost of a volume segment battery by 30 percent. VW is currently using LG Chem pouch cells for its ID.4 crossover, although its Chattanooga, Tennessee facility will use locally made SK Innovation cells when US ID.4 production begins in 2022.
"We will also use our economies of scale with the battery for the benefit of our customers. On average, we will reduce the costs for battery systems to well below 100 euros per kilowatt hour. Mobility affordable and the dominant drive technology," said Thomas Schmall, VW Board Member for Technology.
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In order to charge all these new batteries, the VW Group is investing 477 million US dollars (400 million euros) in building new fast chargers in Europe. Working with BP, 8,000 150 kW chargers will be installed at BP and ARAL filling stations, mainly in the UK and Germany. In Spain it will work with Iberdrola to set up a fast charging system along the main transport routes and with Enel in Italy to do something similar on highways but also in cities.
Here in the US, according to Electrify America, it is on the right track to have 3,500 fast chargers online by the end of 2021. As of November 2020, Electrify America had more than 2,200 DC fast chargers in operation. In China, a joint venture with two local companies wants to put 17,000 fast chargers into operation by 2025.
Finally, the VW Group's MEB electric vehicle architecture will support bidirectional vehicle-to-grid charging in 2022 so that its cars can be used to power households or as grid storage capacity for renewable energies.
