Volkswagen ensures that without electric cars the battle against climate change will not be won

Volkswagen Group CEO Herbert Diess stressed that electric vehicles are the only efficient mobility option that can be deployed on a large scale at a “reasonable cost” and that, therefore, without them the battle against climate change cannot be won.

“The more than 100 million cars of our brands only account for 1% of global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. By 2050, we will be carbon neutral and by 2025, we will have reduced the CO2 emissions of our fleet by 30%,” said Diess during the act of the start of production of the electric ID.3 at the factory in Zwickau (Germany).

The executive, accompanied by german Chancellor Angela Merkel, stressed that the change to electric mobility must be achieved as soon as possible and that for this it is necessary that users have access to a “sufficient amount” of recharging points. Germany will have one million public points by 2030.

“The question is no longer whether electric vehicles will move forward, but how fast they will achieve it and which regions. We must make Germany a key market in electric mobility,” said Diess, pointing out that this Monday an important summit of the German automotive sector will be held in Berlin.

The CEO of the German consortium has also highlighted that the ID.3 is the first 100% electric model that reaches the market with a great autonomy –up to 550 kilometers, depending on the size of the battery– and with a price similar to that of a diesel Golf. In Germany, it will be priced below 30,000 euros.

The transformation of the Zwickau plant from a combustion vehicle manufacturing center to an electric vehicle production center began in 2018 and will culminate in 2020. The company has invested 800 million euros to date in this process, but the total amount will amount to 1,200 million.

In Zwickau, with a workforce of about 8,000 workers, the Volkswagen Group will produce, from 2021, up to six models based on the MEB modular electric platform of the Volkswagen, Audi and Seat brands, among which the ‘el-Born’ stands out. Production capacity will increase from 300,000 to 330,000 units per year.

Source: Europe Press