Volkswagen Mulls Single Battery Design for Electrified Vehicles
Volkswagen hopes to scale its electric powertrain production costs down by using a unified battery cell.
According to VW board member in charge of development, Heinz-Jakob Neusser, the German automaker is targeting a 66-percent cost reduction with a new design that would rely on modules customized for each vehicle. It would allow the Volkswagen Group to use a single lithium-ion battery cell design for all of its electrified vehicles, even for other automakers in the group including Audi.
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Currently, Volkswagen uses a variety of lithium-ion cells across its lineup with the e-Golf, Golf GTE plug-in hybrid and Audi A3 equipped with cells from Panasonic. The upcoming Passat GTE and other Audi electrified vehicles will be using cells from Samsung. VW has a battery module assembly plant in Germany and a single-cell design would allow the company to take greater advantage of the facility.
[Source: Automotive News]
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Jason Siu began his career in automotive journalism in 2003 with Modified Magazine, a property previously held by VerticalScope. As the West Coast Editor, he played a pivotal role while also extending his expertise to Modified Luxury & Exotics and Modified Mustangs. Beyond his editorial work, Jason authored two notable Cartech books. His tenure at AutoGuide.com saw him immersed in the daily news cycle, yet his passion for hands-on evaluation led him to focus on testing and product reviews, offering well-rounded recommendations to AutoGuide readers. Currently, as the Content Director for VerticalScope, Jason spearheads the content strategy for an array of online publications, a role that has him at the helm of ensuring quality and consistency across the board.
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A smart move to be sure, but theory and practice are two different things. I cringed when I read they're using Samsung batteries. If they're anything like the batteries in Samsung phones, I think they're themselves in the foot with that move.