Volkswagen “Power Day” – Wolfsburg Goes Big with Electrification
By Edward A. Sanchez – March 15, 2021
To re-emphasize its credentials in the EV space, Volkswagen held its inaugural “Power Day” on March 15, 2021. While some cynically see this as a thematic rip-off of Tesla’s “Battery Day,” if VW makes good on all the promises and claims made in the presentation, it will indeed be a juggernaut in the EV space. Among the many items outlined in the presentation are a total of six “gigafactories” globally with a total output of 240 GWh, plus the construction of 18,000 public Level 3 fast-charging points in Europe by 2025 in collaboration with three partners.
Of course, the presentation contained its fair share of corporate-speak: “E-mobility has become core business for us. We are now systematically integrating additional stages in the value chain. We secure a long-term pole position in the race for the best battery and best customer experience in the age of zero emission mobility,” VW chairman Herbert Diess said.
The first two of the gigafactories to open will be in Skellefteå, Sweden, and Salzgitter, German, southwest of its Wolfsburg headquarters. Production at the Skellefteå plant is scheduled to start in 2023, with an eventual annual capacity of 40 GWh. The Swedish plant will focus on “premium” cells (presumably Porsche, Audi, Bentley, etc.) and the Salzgitter plant will be more focused on mass-market models. Salzgitter is also targeted to have an annual output of 40 GWh.
Chairman of the board of management of the Volkswagen Group Herbert Diess presented at VW’s Power Day on March 15, 2021.
With this large-scale production, VW is aiming to bring down battery costs by as much as 50%, with an eventual target of “significantly below €100 per kilowatt hour.” To help manage costs and keep the quarterly reports sanguine to investors, the company is actively courting partners to help bear the load of this ambitious and expensive transition to EVs.
The charging partners Volkswagen announced to help build the 18,000 charging points are BP and ARAL in the UK and Germany, Iberdrola in Spain, and Enel in Italy. These partnerships are in addition to VW’s pre-existing investment and partnership in the Ionity charging network. VW has tentatively committed €400 million to this initiative, with partners shouldering the rest of the cost. VW says it plans to have 3,500 Electrify America Level 3 stations built and deployed in the U.S. by the end of 2021, and 17,000 fast-charging points in China in partnership with CAMS (a collaboration of JAC Motors, VW, FAW Group, and Star Charge).
Further out, VW said that it wants to integrate EVs into “private, commercial and public energy systems” in the future. This includes bi-directional charging, vehicle-to-home charging, and utility-scale power integration and management.
VW’s announced plans are indeed grand and ambitious, but such large-scale investments will be necessary to make EVs affordable, practical, and feasible for the majority of the motoring public. We at The Watt Car wish them the best with this latest announced initiative.
(Images courtesy Volkswagen)
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