Wolfsburg – Volkswagen Group Technology offered a glimpse of its upcoming electric car innovations in the areas of batteries, charging, and electronic components at Tech Day 2023. The company’s focus was on the future of electric drive systems, with Volkswagen developing central components such as batteries, electric motors, pulse inverters, and thermal management systems in-house. By offering a complete drive system from a single source, Volkswagen aims to achieve up to 20% more efficiency through an optimal combination of individual components, resulting in significant cost advantages.
According to Oliver Blume, Chair of the Board of Management of the Volkswagen Group, the company’s in-house expertise, coupled with its size and breadth, enables Volkswagen to leverage enormous economies of scale, benefiting customers and improving the company’s products and technologies. Thomas Schmall, member of the Volkswagen Group Board of Management with responsibility for Technology, added that the company’s goal is to achieve technological leadership in electric mobility by relying on internal competencies.
Volkswagen’s pulse inverters and thermal management systems, which are core components of the electric drive train and play a critical role in efficiency and performance, are currently being developed in-house, with the modular toolkit principle enabling their implementation in everything from entry-level engines to high-performance sports cars. Meanwhile, the company is also developing entirely new solutions for thermal management systems that are more efficient, compact, and integrated.
The company is focusing on scalability in the development of all central electric drive components, as high economies of scale can reduce costs. Volkswagen Group Technology, which bundles the Group’s activities in the areas of batteries, charging, and electric components, supports the brands as a group-wide technology supplier, along with its subsidiaries PowerCo (batteries) and Elli (charging and energy).
Volkswagen Group Technology’s high-tech portfolio includes the unified cell, which will be used in all Volkswagen Group vehicles from 2025 and will set a new benchmark in battery technology. The division also includes the Platform Business, which covers cooperation with external partners such as Ford and Mahindra. Volkswagen Group Technology employs approximately 70,000 people worldwide, and its innovative strength is unique worldwide, according to Daniela Cavallo, Chairwoman of the General Works Council of the Volkswagen Group.
