VW’s EV strategy is picking up speed faster than originally expected, with the German car manufacturer now saying that it will reach the strategic target of 1 million EVs produced by the end of 2023, two years earlier than the original prediction.
Volkswagen has revised its predictions, and is now expecting that it will produce 1.5 million electric vehicles by 2025.
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The German car maker has started production of the ID.3, their first model based on the EV-specific MEB platform, in November at the Zwickau factory. VW has already received 37,000 reservations, with first deliveries to kick off in the summer of 2020. Pre-production of the ID.3 has also started in China, at the Anting manufacturing facility.
“2020 will be a key year for the transformation of Volkswagen. With the market launch of the ID.3 and other attractive models in the ID. family, our electric offensive will also become visible on the roads”, said Thomas Ulbrich, Member of the Volkswagen brand Board of Management responsible for E-Mobility. “Our new overall plan for 1.5 electric cars in 2025 shows that people want climate-friendly individual mobility – and we are making it affordable for millions of people.”
The German manufacturer is also developing its own charging infrastructure, through its newly established subsidiary Elli; the company estimates that a total of 36,000 charging stations will be available throughout Europe at dealerships and plants by 2025.
The EV-specific MEB platform is also open for use by other car companies; Ford will be one of the first ones to use it, offering a new MEB-based electric model in Europe from 2023.
In addition, VW will expand the ID model family with more models, including the production version of the ID Crozz concept, an electric SUV that will reportedly adopt the ID.4 nameplate, which will debut in 2020.