Electro mobility is VW‘s next big plan in which German car manufacturer is already investing billions of euros, with plan to invest 11 additional billions to speed the whole process. In addition, while electrified cars are already on the market (like hybrid Passat or electric Golf GTE), there is a fully new line-up on the way, named I.D., with the first car coming by the end of next year. The big plan is to produce one million electric cars per year and it is all going to start in Zwickau.

Currently, mentioned German factory is home of new Golfs and Passats, is going to receive some major transformation at the end of which it will become Volkswagen’s center of production and development of electric cars with an annual production of 330.000 cars. But given the fact, that it is going to produce electric cars, it should become CO2-neutral. Work in this has begun last year, but there is still a lot to be done in order to achieve that.

Pressure also on battery suppliers

“The start of production for the ID in one year will usher in a new era for Volkswagen,” says Thomas Ulbrich, the Board Member responsible for e-mobility at the Volkswagen brand. “We want to make a substantial contribution to climate protection with our electric cars. Therefore, it is crucial that electric cars are built and used in a sustainable manner.”

Transformation to cleaner energy has already been done last year, when Zwickau factory switched to electricity, provided by hydro-powered power plants. They have also made an agreement with producers of battery cells, that they will start using green electricity when producing cells. Next on the plan is production line conversion. First line is to be presented in November 2019 with the second one being finished by 2020. Combined, they should have a combined capacity of 1.350 to 1.500 cars per deay.