Several high-end automakers recently revealed strategies to boost production of hybrid and electric vehicles, or even electrify their whole lineups. But those strategies will be overshadowed by Volkswagen‘s electrification push. During its media night prior the 2017 Frankfurt Motor Show, the Volkswagen Group revealed that will electrify not just the primary VW brand, but every brand in its vast vehicle empire by 2030. Which indicates every Porsche, Lamborghini, Bentley, and Bugatti– to name a few nameplates– will be required to provide an electric-powered or electric-assisted variation of every car already.
The VW Group will keep using standalone internal-combustion powertrains, however it will have at least one hybrid or electric version of each of its approximately 300 models by then. The effort includes 80 new electrified models by 2025– 50 all-electric models, and 30 plug-in hybrids. VW anticipates as much as 1 in 4 of its brand-new models to be all-electric by that time, and prepares to buy more than 150 gigawatt-hours of lithium-ion batteries to power all those vehicles.
The automaker is presently looking for a partner to supply it with more than 50 billion euros ($59 billion) worth of batteries, which will be used for new models based upon the MEB platform for electric cars. The automaker plans to invest more on top of that to acquire batteries for larger electric vehicles, and plug-in hybrids. It’s also earmarking more than 20 billion euros ($23 billion) to fund the electrification transition.
While many automakers are planning ambitious electrification efforts, VW might deal with the biggest obstacle. It has a massive range of models throughout a diverse range of brands that consists of whatever from Bugatti to Skoda. VW will aim to deal with this by making the shift more progressive, keeping traditional gasoline and diesel powertrains in its portfolio for now.
