All automakers are preparing to transition to EVs (electric vehicles) latest by 2030 as the emission norms become stricter and climate change worries dry up any further investments in this space.
The progress in electric vehicles run on batteries is rapid as costs and mileage both are coming down. It seems just a matter of time until we will see the end of internal combustion engine (ICE) cars.
Most recently, Volkwagen reiterated it will go fully electric and ditch internal combustion engine cars latest by 2035. Klaus Zellmer, from Volkswagen, said that as far as Europe is concerned. Volkswagen will be ending production of ICE cars by that timeline and the goal is for 70 percent EV sales by 2030 in Europe.
“In Europe, we will exit the business with internal combustion vehicles between 2033 and 2035, in the United States and China somewhat later.
“In South America and Africa, it will take a good deal longer due to the fact that the political and infrastructure framework conditions are still missing.” VW plans to make its entire lineup CO2-neutral by 2050 at the latest, Zellmer said.
The developed western zone will likely see fully electric car adoption earlier than the rest of the world.
Volkswagen is investing heavily in new dedicated, all-electric platforms, new EV plants, battery plants, infrastructure and software development.
The group is sharing the EV platforms and facilities for optimal investment returns. With new models every couple of months, Volkswagen is going electric and combustion engine cars will gradually fade away. Volkswagen had already announced in 2018 that it was manufacturing its last full generation of gasoline and diesel engine cars.
Meanwhile, the German automaker is planning to launch 27 new EVS globally by 2022 with the help of its MEB platform. Battery fuelled cars saw a triple-fold increase in sales in 2020 to 231,000, and Volkswagen aims to top that with 1 million by 2021. It aims to reach this number with a combination of electric and hybrid build models.
In an interview with The Financial Times, Herbert Diess, the chief executive officer, said that the legacy carmaker intends to improve its profit margins by 5 to 6 per cent this year, up from 4.8 per cent during 2020. The company managed to reach 7.6 per cent in 2019.
The German group announced in March 2020 an ambitious plan to manufacture 26 million emission-free vehicles in the coming decade. The company plans to invest nearly €33bn to further that plan.
It is turning to making batteries a core competency. The automaker plans to commercialize solid-state battery tech through startup QuantumScape.
Volkswagen unveiled its first battery-powered prototype in 2009, though its then chief executive Martin Winterkorn did not seem to be too sold out on the innovation, he called it the “electro-hype” and was not sure it would be able to compete and sustain against the fleet of diesel and petrol models.
The incumbent chief executive now says that there is no other alternative but electric cars for the present times.
Carmakers are ramping up electric sales as EU emission norms are getting tighter and the rest of the world is following suit. In the US, the recent wildfires and the changing weather patterns due to climate change have forced it to introduce stricter regulations and look for easing combustion engines in the near future, rather than as something that could be eased into gradually.
