Volkswagen plans to introduce a new EV, the ID.4 sedan, which is expected to go into production in 2026, and will be built on a new platform. VW’s new Scalable Systems Platform (SSP) is a skateboard-style architecture that Volkswagen Group Chairman Herbert Diess says will replace the existing Modularen Elektrik Baukasten (MEB) structure as well… Read more »
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Volkswagen Group launches Scout brand to build electric pickup and SUV for US market
The Volkswagen Group plans to launch an electric pickup and “rugged SUV” in the US market. What’s more, the company will establish a separate, independent company to produce the new EVs. “The vehicles will be designed, engineered, and manufactured in the US for American customers,” says VW. Volkswagen will resurrect the Scout nameplate, which was… Read more »
Volkswagen Group and bp partner to roll out EV fast charging in Europe
The fossil fuel industry’s takeover of public charging infrastructure continues. This week, ABB announced plans to supply charging stations to Shell, and Volkswagen and bp unveiled a charger in Dusseldorf, Germany that will be the first unit in a planned network of fast chargers across Europe. Volkswagen’s Flexpole 150 kW charging unit features two charge… Read more »
Tesla wins approval to start production at Gigafactory Berlin
German authorities have granted Tesla conditional environmental approval to start production at Gigafactory Berlin, clearing the way for German-made Model 3s and Ys to start rolling off the line any day now. The plant has already assembled around 2,000 prototypes. Nothing is ever settled in a democracy, especially a paperwork-loving one. Tesla has received a… Read more »
Are German dealers sabotaging VW’s EV efforts?
The Volkswagen Group is by far the most charged of the legacy automakers—it’s making massive investments in electrification, converting entire factories to EV production, and rolling out fast charging networks across the US and Europe. Chairman Herbert Diess recently won an important vote of confidence from the company’s board, which agreed to back his ambitious… Read more »
VW’s ID.4 electric SUV will have towing capability; Elon Musk drives an ID.3, calls it “pretty good”
Volkswagen’s ID.3 is all very well, but we Americans are more excited about the ID.4, an electric SUV that’s slated to go on sale here in the US in late 2020 or early 2021. Production has started in Germany, and VW recently revealed some details of the interior. Now VW has released a new video… Read more »
VW and Audi chiefs say ICEs will be alive for a very long time, massive investment will continue
Shares in Tesla and other publicly-traded EV-makers are soaring; infrastructure startups are raising record amounts of funding; presumptive President Joe Biden’s environmental plan envisions aggressive moves to electrify the USA’s transport system. Everybody seems to be eagerly anticipating the electromobility revolution. Everybody, that is, except the legacy automakers—their execs continue to make public pronouncements to… Read more »
EV software delays threaten to become “a disaster” for the German automakers
When I interviewed Tesla co-founder Ian Wright in 2014 for my history of Tesla, he described the software found in traditional automobiles as “a dog’s breakfast,” by which he meant that it was a motley mixture of heterogenous hardware and software, in contrast to Tesla’s elegant unified system, which controls every function of the vehicle…. Read more »
Volkswagen CEO: electrification won’t hurt profit margins
Volkswagen, which has unveiled the most ambitious electrification plans of any of the legacy automakers, does not believe the transition to EVs will hurt its profit margins, CEO Herbert Diess said in an interview with la Repubblica (via Reuters). “We do not expect a deterioration in margins. Our advantage is that all our brands have… Read more »
VW introduces electric SUV for Chinese market, with wireless charging and Level 4 autonomy
Underlining global automakers’ increasing focus on China, Volkswagen unveiled a new electric SUV based on the I.D. Roomzz concept at the Shanghai auto show. It’s VW’s second electric crossover concept, following the smaller Crozz, which debuted two years ago in Shanghai. The production I.D. Roomzz will be a three-row, seven-seat model that will “launch initially”… Read more »