Volkswagen Group is going in with all guns blazing to make an impact in the EV segment. The German car manufacturer with its ‘Roadmap E’, a programme which they launched last year, is planning to set up 16 locations around the world where it will be producing battery powered vehicles by 2022. Currently, there are only three locations where electric vehicles are being produced. The next two years will spring nine more EV manufacturing plants. Battery manufacturing locations will be set up in Europe and China.
Earlier this year, Volkswagen announced its intentions of producing 3 million EVs by 2025 and 80 new models that will be joining the car makers expanding portfolio. The Geneva Motor Show this year saw the Audi e-tron, the Porsche Mission E and the I.D. VIZZION from Volkswagen Group, hinting the direction where it is heading in full steam. But that doesn’t mean that the conventional IC engines will be ditched anytime soon. According to Volkswagen, diesel engines “are a part of the solution, not part of the problem”. The car maker is investing 20 billion Euros in 2018 in conventional engine technologies and 90 billion more in the next five years hoping to make the conventional IC engines more environmental friendly, especially with the upcoming stringent emission norms.
Volkswagen is also betting big on autonomous technology. With ‘Sedric’, (self-driving car) the first concept car from the group, it demonstrated its prowess to develop a fully autonomous (Level 5) vehicle for mass mobility. Things are looking up for Volkswagen who had a bad time with the diesel emission scandal and despite the loss of billions of Euros, Volkswagen claim that they have the financial resources that are needed to future-proof themselves. The company’s plan for India when it comes to the subject of EVs does not seem to be clear, with the government not able to make any concrete decisions regarding the matter.