• Six gigafactories with a total production capacity of 240 GWh;
• Unified cell and synergies coming from 2023 will reduce battery costs by as much as 50%;
• 18,000 fast-charging points: European network to be expanded five times;
• Up to 95% of raw materials will be recycled;
• Full details at the official Volkswagen Newsroom site.

Announced last week by Volkswagen boss Herbert Diess, the inaugural VW Power Day is taking place today during an event that will be livestreamed on YouTube for everyone to see. The action kicks off at 1 PM CET (12 PM GMT/ 8 AM EDT) when we’re expecting to learn more about what the German automotive conglomerate is planning in terms of batteries.

VW has already specified Power Day will not include the reveal of a new electric vehicle, meaning it’s all going to be battery-related topics. With brands like Audi, SEAT, Skoda, Porsche, Bentley, and Bugatti under its large umbrella, the VW Group has a lot on its plate in terms of electrification in order to meet increasingly stringent emissions regulations.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdnRfNwj1Fg

Details about what will be discussed today have not been provided, but we’re likely going to hear about how VW will secure the necessary battery cell production to power its armada of EVs coming later this decade, and maybe we will learn about the technology behind the company’s next-gen batteries. It remains to be seen whether the hugely promising solid-state batteries will be a topic, especially since the Trinity sedan coming in 2026 will have “extremely short charging times” and an extra-long range.

VW has only said about the Trinity that it will ride on an evolution of the MEB platform and it will be interesting to see whether solid-state batteries will be ready five years from now. Even if this subject is not on the agenda, the automaker likely has some interesting news to share considering it’s having a dedicated Tesla-like event just to talk about batteries.

As a refresher, a plethora of EVs will be launched by the VW Group this year and later this decade. Three SUVs – ID.4 GTX, ID.5, ID.6 – are planned for a 2021 launch, with an electric Microbus earmarked for 2022 and an ID.1 entry-level electric car scheduled to arrive in 2025, two years earlier than originally programmed.

The other VW Group brands are also planning a raft of zero-emissions vehicles for 2021, including Skoda with its Enyaq GT, Audi with the Q4 E-Tron / Q4 E-Tron Sportback, Porsche with the Taycan Cross Turismo, and Cupra with the El-Born. Bentley has already announced it will become a purely electric brand by 2030, and there’s a big chance Bugatti will eventually embrace electrification with the help of Croatian electric brand Rimac.

Source: Volkswagen News / YouTube

The post Watch the Volkswagen Power Day livestream right here appeared first on EVGLOBE - News on Electric Vehicles and Hybrids.

The event will be livestream for everyone to see and we’re expecting VW to detail how it plans to secure the necessary battery supply for its lineup of ID models as well as the many other electric vehicles coming from the Audi, Porsche, SEAT, and Skoda sub-brands. The core VW marque recently announced its intentions to increase the share of electric vehicle sales in Europe to 70 percent by 2030 or double compared to the previously announced target.

VW specifically says its event won’t include a new car reveal, meaning it’s all going to be about batteries in the same vein as the Tesla Battery Day. Whatever the brand has in store will also impact North America and China where the automaker is aiming for an EV share of 50 percent by the end of the decade. Many new zero-emissions are coming to follow the ID.3 hatchback and ID.4 SUV, including the ID.4 GTX, ID.5, and ID.6 all planned for a release later this year.

In addition, VW will introduce an electric Microbus in 2022, followed by an entry-level EV, tentatively called ID.1, in 2025. A year later, a sedan currently known by its “Trinity” codename will be launched on the Scalable Systems Platform, an evolution of today’s MEB architecture for vehicles with a completely flat floor.

Meanwhile, our guess is the VW Power Day will also talk about how battery research is going, especially since the German marque has announced Trinity will have an extra-long range and “extremely short charging times.” Its tie-ups with various cell manufacturers could also be a topic, and perhaps the subject of solid-state batteries will also be addressed.

Source: Herbert Diess / LinkedIn

🔋⚡️Join us for our global #VWGroup event – online on March 15, 2021, 1 p.m. CET.

ℹ️ Please note: This is not a car presentation.#VWPowerDay pic.twitter.com/cAlfRynPZS

— Herbert Diess (@Herbert_Diess) March 9, 2021

The post Volkswagen Power Day set for March 15 as Tesla-like battery event appeared first on EVGLOBE - News on Electric Vehicles and Hybrids.