'Charging a 95kW VW EV Will Be Easy'
http://ecomento.com/2015/11/16/volkswagen-designing-new-chassis-for-electric-cars/ Volkswagen designing new chassis for electric cars November 16, 2015 [image http://cdn.ecomento.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/VW-electric-car-chassis-740x425.jpg (Volkswagen chassis) ] Until very recently, the world’s automakers have been following a “one size fits all” path when it comes to designing the cars of the future. Most have decided to focus on platforms that can accommodate any and all drivetrains, because predicting where the market will go over the next 10 years is a very inexact science. Better to have a chassis that can accept gas or diesel engines, hybrid or plug-in hybrid powertrains, battery electrics, ... components. Volkswagen in particular has been committed to this approach. Its MQB chassis has been designed to underpin almost every car VW, Audi, Porsche, Skoda and SEAT make. Then the diesel emissions cheating scandal struck. Forced to re-examine every aspect of how the company does business, its board of directors has made a decision to proceed with a new chassis architecture, known internally as MEB. The “E” stands for electric. VW brand CEO Herbert Diess says it uses a flat floor battery to make room for more electrical storage than today’s all-electric e-Golf. This is exactly the way Tesla has chosen to build its cars. Batteries are heavy. Placing them as low as possible in the chassis helps lower a car’s center of gravity so all that weight does not compormise the way a car handles on the road. Diess says it will take 3 to 4 years before the new chassis is ready for full production, but he is not overly concerned. By that date, he says, improved charging infrastructure and market acceptance will mean MEB vehicles can sell in high numbers. “This (the MEB) can cover all the brands, covering cars bigger and smaller than the Golf, with ranges of 300-500 km,” he says. “It’s much easier to make full use of the electric technology if you dedicate a platform to it. We have enough scale to dedicate one of our platforms to electromobility.” Until this point, dedicating a platform to electric technology is exactly what Volkswagen and other manufacturers have been hoping to avoid. But the diesel emission scandal changed all that. “There was discussion already; we have to refocus what we are doing,” Diess says. “And there is a general discussion, not only in VW but in the industry, about real driving emissions. So the electric car gets more attractive month by month because for conventional cars, the emissions are getting more expensive, the limits are coming down. Also the batteries are getting cheaper and the charging infrastructure is getting richer in most countries, so the rationale for investing in electric cars gets better every month.” Volkswagen will still keep its options open in one important area, however. Whereas Tesla and others have settled on cylindrical cells as the basis for their battery packs, VW batteries will be able to accept cylindrical cells, prismatic cells, or pouch cells.The company hopes such flexibility will help foster competition among battery makers and that will keep the cost of its batteries as low as possible. [© ecomento.com] ... http://www.motortrend.com/news/volkswagen-brand-ceo-talks-new-electric-platforms/ Volkswagen Brand CEO Talks New Electric Platforms [2015/11/163] - Volkswagen brand CEO Herbert Diess talks about the new MEB platform and ... Auto News / Volkswagen Brand CEO Talks New Electric Platforms ... http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2015/11/16/volkswagen-charging-a-fully-electric-car-will-be-e.aspx Volkswagen: Charging a Fully Electric Car Will Be Easy Nov 16, 2015 ... Volkswagen will offer a DC fast-charging network for buyers of its planned Audi e-Tron Quattro, a 95kW electric SUV ... For EVLN EV-newswire posts use: http://evdl.org/evln/ {brucedp.150m.com} -- View this message in context: http://electric-vehicle-discussion-list.413529.n4.nabble.com/EVLN-VW-steps-toward-purpose-built-EV-keeping-options-open-tp4678786.html Sent from the Electric Vehicle Discussion List mailing list archive at Nabble.com. _______________________________________________ UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org Read EVAngel's EV News at http://evdl.org/evln/ Please discuss EV drag racing at NEDRA (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEDRA)
