Leading car makers announce new electric models; VW may build European battery factory
Fri 24 June 2016
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Leading car makers including Audi, Skoda, Volvo and Hyundai have announced plans to launch new battery electric models, while VW is reported to be considering building a multi-billion Euro battery factory in Europe.
German car maker Audi has said it will make significant increases in range for electric cars by 2020, making the vehicles more attractive to a greater number of car buyers. As part of a commitment made by its parent group VW, Audi says it plans to start selling its first all-electric vehicle in 2018.
The VW Group (VAG) had already announced ambitious plans to sell one million electric and hybrid vehicles a year by 2025 and to invest more in batteries.
“For over 100 years, automobiles have always gotten better,” Stefan Niemand, the German engineer who is the architect of Audi’s electric-car strategy, said. “Drivers won’t adopt electric cars if they’re seen as smaller, uglier and more expensive.”
Audi's stablemate in the VAG, Skoda, is to launch its first ever electric car in 2020, as a standalone SUV. Autocar reports that Skoda engineers are part of the planning team working on new VW Group battery-electric technology, which has a target to produce a car with a range of at least 300 miles, a fifteen minute charge time and a cost below a comparative ICE vehicle. "The group is working on a modular, new electric platform and we are in the team," Skoda chairman Bernhard Maier told Autocar recently: "There is no alternative to electrification. We have to tackle it."
As part of this major expansion of its electric-car portfolio, the company has also announced it is considering building a multi-billion Euro battery factory. Reports indicate the new battery factory will give Volkswagen an early advantage and allow it to become one of the top developers of new technology. It is also part of a larger plan to move away from damages to the company’s image after the recent emissions scandal.
In related news, south Korean car maker Hyundai is preparing to launch a 250-mile electric vehicle by 2020 following plans announced in April to release 26 new low carbon models by 2020 encompassing twelve hybrids, six PHEVs, two EVs, and two hydrogen fuel cell vehicles.
These developments take place alongside news from Volvo in Sweden that it will introduce a lower-powered version of the V60 Plug-In Hybrid, which introduces its diesel-electric drivetrain. The electric range is 32 miles as the preivous version and PHEV offers 48g/km CO2 emissions.
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