Car production for the world This is where your e-car is built

Volkswagen is driving forward its electric offensive with all its might in 2021. The ID.4, the brand’s first all-electric SUV, has been on the market since the start of the year. An even sportier version has since been added with the ID.4 GTX. And yet another model, the ID.5 will be introduced to the ID. family this year. As the number of models grows, so does the volume: After delivering around 134,000 all-electric cars last year, the brand has plans to continue to grow over the coming years. And setting up a global network for the production of electric cars is key.

The most recent example is The Transparent Factory Dresden. 35 ID.3 cars have been produced every single day since January at the site in Saxony, where the luxury Phaeton saloon, the Bentley Flying Spur and most recently the e-Golf came off the production line. The Transparent Factory has also been bolstered as a site for research and innovation, driving innovative projects to be implemented at the Volkswagen brand’s large mass-production locations and giving visitors and guests a holistic experience of the ID. family.

Dresden is already the fourth location in the world where the Volkswagen brand manufactures all-electric models based on MEB. And while Dresden is one of the smaller locations, the other MEB plants in Zwickau, Anting and Foshan (both China) produce large volumes. The Zwickau plant was the first location to start MEB production at the end of 2019. The plant has undergone a total transformation from 100 percent combustion engines to 100 percent electric. Production is currently being ramped up gradually, more than 1,000 all-electric cars are already being produced there each working day as it stands, including electric models of other brands. As a pure electric car plant, Zwickau will be able to produce up to 1,500 cars per day or 330,000 cars per year at peak level in future.

All of the MEB plants are still ramping up production. In the future, Volkswagen’s four MEB plants in Zwickau, Anting, Foshan and Dresden will have a combined maximum production capacity of more than 900,000 vehicles per year. On top of this is the ŠKODA plant in Mladá Boleslav, which has also started MEB production. Up to 350 units of the all-electric ŠKODA ENYAQ iV come off the production line there every day, giving this production network a maximum production capacity of up to one million electric cars each year once all plants are fully ramped up. And Emden, Hannover and Chattanooga (USA) are the next locations preparing for MEB production. The first cars are due to roll off the production line there next year.

In addition to the vehicle-producing plants, the Volkswagen Group Components plants are also repositioning themselves for electric mobility. The plant in Kassel delivers electric drive trains and platform parts for MEB. The battery system for MEB is being developed and manufactured at both the Braunschweig and Foshan locations. The core elements of electric engines – rotor and stator – are supplied by the component plant in Salzgitter. And with the Center of Excellence (CoE) for Battery Cells, the group-wide expertise in battery technology is clustered in Salzgitter. Including cell production: By 2030, in collaboration with partners, Volkswagen will have set up a total of six gigafactories in Europe with an overall capacity of 240 gigawatt hours per year.