- First complete transformation of a major car factory from internal combustion engines to e-mobility
- Production capacity of 3.30 lakh electric cars per year
- Zwickau to be the nucleus for the roll-out of the global electric production network
Volkswagen is gradually creating the production capacity needed for building more than 1 million electric cars per year throughout the world from 2025. The Group’s largest electric car plant is currently being created in Zwickau where in future, up to 3.30 lakh electric models per year are to roll off the production.
VW says it is converting an entire plant from the internal combustion engine to e-mobility. Currently, the Golf and Golf Estate are produced at Zwickau. At the end of 2019, in slightly more than a year, the production of the ID.1), Volkswagen’s first electric model based on the new modular electric toolkit (MEB), is due to start at Zwickau. In the final stage of development, six electric models of three Group brands are to be produced at the plant from 2021 onwards.
The transformation of the Zwickau vehicle plant has already started and will be implemented in several phases. The conversion of the production lines started earlier this year. The first of the two production lines will be modified step-by-step up to the planned start of ID.1) production in November 2019. The second line at the plant will be changed over following the same procedure by the end of 2020 and will start production the same year. The maximum production capacity is to be increased from the present figure of 1,350 to 1,500 vehicles per day, which will probably be reached from 2021 onwards.
All the electric cars to be built at Zwickau will be based on the modular electric toolkit (MEB). This was developed especially for full electric cars and makes full use of the possibilities of e-mobility. For example, MEB vehicles offer longer ranges, more space and a variety of new digital services. By 2025 at the latest, the VW Group plans to sell a total of more than 1 million electric cars per year.
VW is making the change globally, too. In China, two MEB plants are currently being created, at Anting/Shanghai and Foshan; they are due to start production a few months after the Zwickau pilot plant in 2020. Volkswagen will also manufacture MEB vehicles in North America.
