Volkswagen has signed German start-up e.GO Mobile as the initial external partner for its modular platform for electric vehicles (EV), as it looks to simplify production throughout a variety of models.
The partner will utilize VW’s so-called MEB production system to “bring e-vehicles to market that complement Volkswagen’s model offering,” the automaker stated.
A particular vehicle has yet to be decided on jointly, it included.
The VW brand’s strategy chief Michael Jost stated during a newspaper interview in January the group was in advanced discussions with rivals over opening its modular EV production platform to competitors.
The platform looks at the cost advantages of large production figures by standardizing as much as possible even throughout very different models.
Volkswagen in January stated it was finding joint development of e-vehicles with Ford, under a wide-ranging partnership.
The German group prepares to invest 30 billion euros ($34 billion) in e-mobility until 2023, it stated on the eve of the Geneva motor show.
The automaker’s electric-vehicle investment budget outstrips that of its closest competitors, in pursuit of profit-generating mass-production of electric vehicles, something that no automaker has come close to attaining.
E.GO Mobile assisted develop a delivery van that is being manufactured by a subsidiary of postal services group Deutsche Post.
Among e.GO’s other projects, it intends to bring an electric minibus to market in a joint venture with German autos provider ZF Friedrichshafen.
