VW – Page 3748 – I wish I had more to offer

Volkswagen greenlights sub-£18,000 electric people’s car

Volkswagen implements electric strategy consistently

Following Zwickau, Volkswagen intends to change its plants at Emden and Hanover in Germany over to the production of electric vehicles. After Zwickau, Volkswagen is there-fore establishing its second e-mobility center in Germany in Lower Saxony. CEO Dr. Her-bert Diess: “Volkswagen is implementing its electric offensive consistently. We are orient-ing the company towards clean mobility.… Continue reading Volkswagen implements electric strategy consistently

Bamboo Apps Partners with Rinspeed to Deliver a New Concept Vehicle at…

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SK Innovation mulls building car battery plants in U.S., Europe

SEOUL, Nov. 14 (Yonhap) — SK Innovation Co., a South Korean energy-to-construction conglomerate, said Wednesday that it is considering building electric vehicle battery plants in the United States and Europe to meet growing demand for zero-emissions cars. SK Innovation said up to four unidentified areas have been shortlisted for its first plant in the U.S.… Continue reading SK Innovation mulls building car battery plants in U.S., Europe

Volkswagen Claims It Will Build 50 Million Electric Cars Using Its MEB Chassis

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Published on November 13th, 2018 |

by Steve Hanley

Volkswagen Claims It Will Build 50 Million Electric Cars Using Its MEB Chassis

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November 13th, 2018 by Steve Hanley

Tesla shares dropped about 5% in value on Monday. Could recent statements by Volkswagen head Herbert Diess have anything to do with that decline? Diess is boasting this week that his company will build 50 million EVs in coming years and that some of them will cost half as much as the cars from Tesla. Indeed, Bloomberg reported last week the company is planning to introduce a sub-compact SUV-style electric vehicle that will retail for $21,000. [Note: “sub-compact SUV” may be an oxymoron.]

Diess tells Reuters that Volkswagen has already taken steps to insure it has enough batteries available to power all of those electric cars. A spokesperson for the company provided some context to Diess’ claim, saying that the 50 million number is a theoretical long-term goal for the carmaker’s MEB electric car platform. He pointed out the company has built more than 50 million vehicles on its current MQB chassis for cars with an internal combustion engine over a period of many years.

A month ago, we reported on Volkswagen’s new MEB electric car chassis. Thomas Ulbricht, head of e-mobility at Volkswagen, told the press in October, “The MEB modular electric drive matrix is probably the most important project in Volkswagen’s history. The platform that Volkswagen is developing is more consistent and innovative than many of the other platforms. By 2022 alone, we anticipate that four Volkswagen Group brands will be ramping up 27 MEB models worldwide, ranging from compact cars to the I.D. BUZZ van.”

Christian Senger, head of e-mobility at Volkswagen, offered more intriguing details. “We have developed a platform designed specifically for electric cars. The I.D. models will not be combustion engine versions that have been converted, they will be designed to be 100 percent, thoroughbred electric vehicles. And they will be engineered to be online upgradeable and update compatible. We’re making optimal use of the possibilities this technology brings.” It will also be compatible with fast charging at up to 125 kW of power.

Will those 50 million electric cars be the compelling competitors Elon Musk has been begging the auto industry to manufacture for years? Probably not, but price is a huge factor for many shoppers. There’s a reason there are far more Corollas and Civics in the world than there are vehicles from Lexus, Audi, and BMW. Volkswagen is flinging down the gauntlet and telling Tesla, “You may be an innovator, but we know how to build lots and lots of cars quickly, efficiently, and profitably. Can you?”

That’s the nub of it. Volkswagen and other traditional car companies know how to crank out products. Tesla is forging ahead with a new factory in China, but how many of you know that Volkswagen is also planning its own Chinese electric car factory and plans to soon have 16 factories around the world dedicated to making electric vehicles. Volkswagen has far more experience creating and managing supply chains and the myriad details that go with manufacturing automobiles than Tesla does. Will Tesla’s penchant for innovation offset Volkswagen’s industrial knowledge base?

In the end, though, the framing may be off. We need all classes to transition to electricity. Just as there’s long been room for both the BMW 3 Series and the VW Golf and the Nissan Versa, there’s evidence to imply that Tesla and Volkswagen can both produce millions of electric vehicles a year for happy customers. Indeed, we need that.

Many of our loyal readers have commented that Volkswagen — like many of its peers — is long on promises and short on action. The first electric cars based on the MEB chassis are not due to begin rolling off assembly lines until 2020, with more coming over the 5 years to follow.

There is an old expression in racing circles: “When the flag drops, the bullshit stops.” The race for dominance in electric car manufacturing is underway, with Tesla already way out in front. Can Volkswagen — or any other legacy car maker — catch up? That’s a question that can’t be answered yet. Rest assured that CleanTechnica will keep you fully informed as the competition heats up.

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About the Author

Steve Hanley Steve writes about the interface between technology and sustainability from his home in Rhode Island and anywhere else the Singularity may take him. His muse is Charles Kuralt — “I see the road ahead is turning. I wonder what's around the bend?”

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Volkswagen nominates further battery cell supplier

With the South Korean battery cell manufacturer SK Innovation (SKI), the Volkswagen Group has named a further strategic supplier for electric vehicles based on the Modular Electric Toolkit (MEB). SKI will supply the batteries for North America and a share of the batteries for the production of Volkswagen Group full-electric vehicles in Europe. The most… Continue reading Volkswagen nominates further battery cell supplier

VW is planning to build 50 million electric vehicles

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Herbert Diess
Volkswagen already had ambitious goals to ramp up electric-vehicle production to a rate of up to three million EVs annually by 2025, and potentially hit 10 million vehicles around 2027 if all goes right. But its plans look even more bullish on electric cars, considering the number of vehicles it's now supposedly signed up to build over a longer stretch of years: 50 million.

Volkswagen Group CEO Herbert Diess, speaking to Automotive News, in an interview from October 31 but published yesterday, said that the company has already sourced the batteries for 50 million electric cars to be built on the modular electric (MEB) platform alone—not counting additional premium-brand vehicles that will be built on other platforms.

DON’T MISS: Here's the battery pack behind VW's global electric-vehicle push

Although it’s not entirely clear what Diess means by “sourced,” the statement implies that VW has made a significant, long-term commitment to some combination of battery-tech companies, cell suppliers, and raw-materials sources.

VW Battery Packs

To put it into perspective, the entire Volkswagen Group sold 10.7 million vehicles—mostly gasoline, of course—in 2017. Over many model years and across its brands the company has sold about 50 million vehicles on its mainstream, modular MQB platform.
There’s one frustrating piece Diess didn’t place on this—the timeline. Volkswagen officials have confirmed that the MEB platform could be produced into the next decade—but it’s likely that in the early 2030s it would be replaced by a second-generation platform.

CHECK OUT: Will Volkswagen's electric Microbus be made in the USA?

By 2025 Volkswagen aims to have 50 distinct battery electric vehicles, and for 25 percent of all VW Group vehicles to be powered solely by electricity. By 2030 it plans to have at least one electric version of every one of the group’s more than 300 models.

Building 50 million vehicles will take a lot of dedicated assembly space. The company is in the process of choosing 16 global hubs for that. The first of those will be in Zwickau, Germany, where next year VW plans to begin transitioning the plant to all-electric vehicles on the MEB platform. The plant will go all electric by 2021.

VW MEB platform

Diess cast some question on likelihood of using the company’s Chattanooga, Tennessee, plant for electric-vehicle assembly. While a board member Thomas Ulbrich suggested some weeks ago that it was the preferred spot for North America, Diess said that the plant is too small and it’s considering various options.

READ MORE: Volkswagen details the foundation for 10 million electric vehicles

The VW chief executive also said that, for the foreseeable future, the battery pack will be more expensive than an internal-combustion powertrain—so there’s an incentive to lower those costs sooner with higher production volumes.

In Tesla’s third-quarter conference call last month, chief executive officer Elon Musk called the global demand for Model 3 “anywhere from 500,000 to 1 million cars a year.” Even if Tesla could make about that many Model Y crossovers, or increase production by lowering prices, Volkswagen could soon pass the California electric-car maker.

The first wave of 10 million electric vehicles, by the way, doesn’t quite reach the number (11 million) of diesel vehicles that it’s admitted to rigging for more favorable emissions-test results. Although it's too early to tell, VW could end up outdoing itself—in a good way.

Big investments on table in Ford, VW talks

Original Article

VW planning $21K EV to challenge Tesla

Original Article

Tue 06 Nov 2018

CARBON ALUMINIUM AUTOMOTIVE HYBRID STRUCTURES (CAAHS) PROJECT SHORTLISTED FOR THE ENGINEER’S COLLABORATE TO INNOVATE AWARDS (C2I) 2018
The Carbon Aluminium Automotive Hybrid Structures (CAAHS) project has been shortlisted within the Manufacturing Technology category for The Engineer’s Collaborate to Innovate Awards 2018, now in its third year, and is a celebration of collaboration highlighting the strength and depth of UK engineering innovation.

The CAAHS project – a part funded 2 year programme through the Innovate UK framework – has been a research based collaboration between 5 automotive partners, led by Gordon Murray Design, Constellium, Brunel University London, Innoval Technology and Bentley Motors. The major construction challenges of the project have been overcome and initial crash testing of the BIW structure is planned for mid November 2018. Due for completion at the end of November 2018, the project is on course to exceed expectations. The technology has delivered a weight saving of 35% compared to the current iStream® solution (based on steel and glass fibre composites) and translates into a saving of 50% over conventional pressed steel BIW construction. iStream Superlight®, as the technology is referred to, is anticipated to be the predominate technology offered by Gordon Murray Design to it’s clients in the future and is already the basis of several vehicle programmes being undertaken.

The project aims to take another major step with the disruptive iStream technology for a new generation of lightweight vehicles for the UK market that can have a major impact on the UK government’s carbon reduction targets for the UK vehicle fleet.

The ultimate winners of C2I 2018 will be announced on November 6th at the historic St Bart’s Brewery in London.

What the judges have said:

“At Frazer-Nash, we know that effective collaboration and the development of innovative solutions is vital in today’s increasingly competitive markets. We’re delighted to support a competition that recognises the achievements of effective partnerships and the value that innovation delivers to the UK economy.” Bill Hodson, Board Director, Frazer-Nash Consultancy

“I found the level of collaboration quite astonishing – the other thing that comes out is the cross-fertilisation of techniques and technologies from one sector to another.” John Halton, Director Business & Industry, Engineering UK

Professor Gordon Murray, Chairman at Gordon Murray Design said of the award “It is a great honour for the CAAHS consortium that the CAAHS project has been shortlisted for The Engineer’s Collaborate to Innovate Awards 2018. For me personally, the most important message is the recognition that we need innovation in both technical and business sectors to help the UK take the lead in the new ‘green’ industrial revolution that is taking place in the automotive industry.”

-Ends-

Notes to Editors:

About Gordon Murray Design Limited

Gordon Murray Design is a visionary design and engineering company with its headquarters in Shalford in Surrey, plus R&D and manufacturing facilities in Dunsfold. It was established in 2007 with a focus on developing an innovative and disruptive manufacturing technology trademarked iStream®, and has since built a global reputation as one of the finest automotive design teams in the world.

The company’s unique approach and truly creative thinking enables Gordon Murray Design to deliver complete car programmes in a highly efficient and innovative way from concept and design, through to prototype and development for production.

About iStream

Rather than the traditional method of combining hundreds of panels of stamped metal, iStream uses tubular metal with 10 – 15 structural composite panels. iStream Superlight® is the ultimate automotive lightweighting technology as it maximises the iStream approach by using cored honeycomb carbon fibre composite and an aluminium frame to save almost 50% in weight against a standard stamped metal chassis.

iStream is an acronym for iS = Stabilised; T = Tube; R = Reinforced; E = Exo-frame; A = Advanced; M = Manufacturing.

www.istreamtechnology.co.uk

About iStream Superlight®

Advantages of iStream Superlight

50% saving over conventional stamped steel BIW

High degree of flexibility in optimising aluminium section shapes to ensure structural efficiency

Corrosion resistant properties exceed coated steel

Cold metal transfer welding reduces distortion and manufacturing time

Low weight aluminium frame can deliver a cost neutral BIW when compared to stamped steel

Delivers new levels of efficient body quality

Aluminium saving vs conventional aluminium BIW

More efficient frame stiffness achieved for aluminium section through use of carbon iPanels®

Low cost, high recycled content aluminium alloys

Re-cycled carbon fibre

Aluminium iFrame® protected from external damage

All hard points (i.e. suspension, steering etc.) are carried by the aluminium iFrame

Carbon sandwich panel cycle time of 100 seconds

About Bentley Motors

Bentley Motors is the most sought after luxury car brand in the world. The company’s headquarters in Crewe is home to all of its operations including design, R&D, engineering and production of the company’s four model lines, Continental, Flying Spur, Bentayga and Mulsanne. The combination of fine craftsmanship, using skills that have been handed down through generations, alongside engineering expertise and cutting-edge technology is unique to UK luxury car brands such as Bentley. It is also an example of high-value British manufacturing at its best. Bentley employs around 4,000 people at Crewe.

About Brunel University London

Advanced Solidification Technology (BCAST), at Brunel University London, led by Professor Zhongyun Fan, is an internationally renowned Research Group with more than 50 dedicated academic staff in the field of casting and light alloy technology and process development. BCAST was established in 2002 based on pioneering scientific work on nucleation that developed into a series of novel casting technologies based on high shear melt processing and melt-conditioning, generically described as liquid metal engineering, to provide sustainable aluminium and magnesium alloys for lightweight vehicle structures. BCAST has established world-class, applied research facilities for the development of advanced casting and down-stream light alloy processing technologies. The first of these new facilities is the £12.0M Advanced Metals Casting Centre (AMCC). This new facility houses production scale extrusion and casting facilities that will be complemented by new joining technologies in the Advanced Metals Processing Centre due to open Q1 2018. For more information, please visit

www.brunel.ac.uk/bcast

About Constellium

Constellium (NYSE and Euronext: CSTM) is a global sector leader that develops innovative, value added aluminium products for a broad scope of markets and applications, including aerospace, automotive and packaging. Constellium generated €4.7 billion of revenue in 2016.

www.constellium.com

About Innoval Technology Ltd

Innoval Technology Ltd provides high quality consultancy, technical support and training to investors, manufacturers and end-users of aluminium, and other light metals, across a broad range of industry sectors. The company, based in Banbury, UK, holds ISO9001: 2008 certification and ISO17025 accreditation. Innoval Technology is part of Danieli Group. For more information visit www.innovaltec.com and follow us on Twitter @InnovalBanbury.

Enquiries:

For further information please contact Sarah Smith, Communications Officer at Gordon Murray Design Limited sarah.smith@gordonmurraydesign.com +44 (0)1483 484700.

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