A lot of people think that electric vehicle drivers are holier than thou, and Volkswagen wants to prove them right. It announced today that it will supply the Vatican City State with 40 vehicles from its stable of ID. EVs.
The move is part of the Vatican City State’s “Ecological Conversion 2030” project, which aims to reduce the carbon footprint of its vehicle fleet. It plans to replace every vehicle it owns with a CO2-neutral one by 2030.
“We are delighted to support the Vatican in this important project,” said Dr. Christian Dahlheim, the head of VW Financial Services. “This is something very special for us and shows that we are absolutely competitive with our mobility solutions.”
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To celebrate the agreement, Dahlheim made the trip to Vatican City with the VW brand’s head of sales and marketing, Imelda Labbe, to hand-deliver the first two vehicles, both of which were ID.3 Pro Performance models.
The automaker says that, in addition to ID.3s, ID.4s and ID.5s will also be among the vehicles that make their way to the Vatican City State. Deliveries of the next 38 electric vehicles will start in early 2024.
“The electrification of fleets is becoming increasingly important across the globe,” said Imelda Labbe, head of sales and marketing for Volkswagen Passenger Vehicles. “The fact that Vatican employees will now also be among our ID. drivers in the future is a great target and honor for our brand and underscores the attractiveness of our all-electric ID. models.”
VW is no stranger to supplying its EVs to small communities. Its vehicles recently took over an entire Greek island called Astypalea. In addition to vehicles, the automaker provided the area with green power to help neutralize the majority of the island’s CO2 emissions, and it has called the experiment a success.
