“Start driving with electricity” is not only the motto of the new decade of the global automotive industry, but also the name of the new Volkswagen exhibition in its own DRIVE showroom in Berlin. To convince motorists of the benefits of electric mobility, VW is showing how the corporate all-electric vehicle strategy should be implemented and who can be expected as buyers of electric vehicles.
Before the opening of the new exhibition, VW Chief Strategist Michael Yost explained the concept and purpose of the new showroom. In the future, Volkswagen wants to produce not only hardware, but also software, in line with its key message, and the focus should be on the customer, not the car.
Volkswagen will use digital transformation to become a software and device manufacturer, but the focus of this story is VW’s intention to completely reduce carbon emissions by 2050.
From 2040, Volkswagen will no longer produce internal combustion engines. Another focus of the strategy is the group’s forecast that driving hydrogen cars is not of interest to private transport and in this aspect the group will not develop this aspect.
Professor Walker Quasning of the University of Applied Sciences in Technology speaks in plain language and calculates how long it will take humanity to turn the wheel around looming climate change. His argument: «From the last ice age to the beginning of the last century, the earth warmed on average» by only 3.0 degrees Celsius. Then, in just 100 years, we achieved an increase of 1.5 degrees Celsius. Everyone can imagine what will happen to the forecast — an increase of 3.0-4.0 degrees Celsius by the end of the century.
Mr Ralf Pfitner, head of sustainability at VW, describes how the group wants to ensure climate-friendly production of the all-electric ID.3 when it launches in the summer of 2020. VW contracts ensure that battery suppliers can only produce them using 100% renewable energy sources. According to physicist Dr. Matthias Ulrich, head of battery development at VW, modularity will mainly provide economies of scale and choice for customers.
Thus, Volkswagen will focus on the benefits for customers. Due to reduced maintenance costs and lower purchase costs thanks to the environmental bonus /in Germany already up to 8,000 euros/, according to the manufacturer, the buyer saves more costs with fully electric models.
Volkswagen also has a solution in terms of mileage, the length of which is still troubling and prevents many customers from changing their minds about electric vehicles. It’s called the WeCharge Card, Volkswagen’s charging card, which aims to allow customers to charge around 80 percent of European charging stations.
The Wolfsburg-based company is investing 30 billion euros in a new strategic course to make VW truly CO2-neutral by 2050. Now the customer has to «play» with the German automaker No. 1.