The Volkswagen Group is launching the most comprehensive electrification initiative in the global automotive industry with its “Roadmap E”. Volkswagen is aiming to electrify its entire model portfolio by 2030 at the latest. This means that, by then, there will be at least one electrified version of each of the 300 or so Group models across all brands and markets. This makes Volkswagen the first big mobility group to have put a date on the electrification of its entire fleet. The Group will need more than 150 gigawatt hours of battery capacity annually by 2025 for its own e-fleet alone. This is equivalent to at least four gigafactories for battery cells. To meet this demand, the Company has put one of the largest procurement volumes in the industry’s history out to tender – over $50 billion. Volkswagen had already firmly established e-mobility as a key focus area in the “TOGETHER – Strategy 2025” future program presented in June 2016, and set itself the goal of becoming the global number one in e-mobility by 2025.
The Company estimates that around one in four new Group vehicles – up to three million units a year depending on how the market develops – could already be purely battery-powered in 2025. Volkswagen is addressing the issue of battery technology with a multi-stage medium- to long-term strategy – starting with bundling Group-wide development, procurement and quality assurance activities for all battery cells and modules in a “Center of Excellence” in Salzgitter. The Volkswagen brand is also setting up its first pilot line there to accumulate production know-how. By 2025, the Group will need over 150 gigawatt hours of li-ion battery capacity annually for its own fleet alone.