VW is aiming to sell around 150,000 electric cars by Y 2020 and increase annual sales to 1-M units by Y 2025. This will be part of the ambitious plan to deploy more than 10-M vehicles from across the VW Group during that frame.

At the heart of it will be the Modularer Elektrifizierungsbaukasten (MEB), or modular electric drive matrix, a platform developed specifically for EVs. The MEB will form the basis of not just the automaker’s new ID. family of EVs but also for 4 other brands across the group’s portfolio, namely Audi, Seat, Skoda and Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles.

The dedicated platform will offer great flexibility in application, covering vehicles ranging from compact class vehicles to SUVs and sedans as well as vans.

The range of MEB models will be similar in size to that of current vehicles based on the Modularer Querbaukasten (MQB), or modular transverse matrix platform, with the top-of-the-range MEB-based offerings being large B-segment models with up to seven seats.

The 1st offering from the VW line-up will be the compact ID. that’s based on the ID concept, and this will begin production next year and make its market debut in Y 2020. This will be followed by a Zero-emission SUV based on the ID Crozz concept, also in Y 2020.

Next in line will be an electric MPV along the lines of the ID Buzz microbus study that was shown in Detroit last year, with series production set for Y 2022. Then comes a sedan based on the ID Vizzion, and this is also set to be launched in Y 2022 too.

The company has not yet divulged much about the technical aspects of the propulsion system, save to say that it will feature a 125 kW charging rate capability, which will considerably speed up the time needed to juice up.

The battery can be charged to 80% in about 30 mins and to full capacity in an hour, bringing charging time down to a 25% that needed by a 22 kW DC system, or an eighth of that by a 11 kW AC system.

Design elements include an aluminium housing for weight optimization and an integrated cooling system. Along with the MEB, the automaker also previewed a design prototype of its Volks-Wallbox, an affordable home charging system.

The ID. models will be able to travel distances of more than 550 km, or 330+ miles, but scalable battery tech means that models will be able to be configured with various different battery capacities, depending on need and requirements.

For instance, an ID. owner utilizing a vehicle for short commutes in and around the city might need only a battery with a smaller energy content, and the option would bring the entry cost of the vehicle down.

Volkswagen will build the ID. series production models in Zwickau and Dresden, with production of the battery system being done at its Braunschweig plant, which already builds the batteries for the e-up!2, the e-Golf and the Passat GTE3 plug-in hybrid.

In the future, it will be able to build up to 500,000 battery systems per annually. The rotors/stators, meanwhile, will be made in Salzgitter, while the drive electric motor will be assembled at its Kassel plan.

Stay tuned…