Volkswagen has set pretty aggressive targets for its electric vehicle offerings, announcing a mass production of the same last year. Now, it seems the company will be complementing its cars with electric car batteries as well as charging stations, also mass produced in its native region.
The company will be overhauling its component division, currently responsible for producing engines and steering parts. On Friday, it confirmed an investment of 870 million euros (~Rs 7055 crore) by 2020 for producing e-vehicle components, including battery cells as well as recycling of old cells.
Now these are two verticals that every electric car manufacturer is looking to work in. A third component, largely restricted due to a requirement of heavy investments, are the charging stations. While Tesla has forayed into all three, Volkswagen claims to do the same now, with a mobile electric car charging stations.
Reuters
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That¡¯s right, instead of stationary charging stations, Volkswagen will be coming up with mobile ones, starting with its plant in Hannover, presently making engines and castings.
Interestingly, the mobile charging stations will employ cells from electric car batteries and will be able to charge up to 15 electric cars at a time. The mobility factor will allow the charging stations to be transported to different locations as per the need, for instance, a concert or other such mass events.
Volkswagen also claims that the customers will be a able to locate the charging stations through a smartphone app. "It can be set up flexibly and independent of the power supply wherever it is needed: for example, in public parking lots in the city, on company premises, or as a temporary charging point at large-scale events," VW said.
Reuters
Another plus point of these stations would be the fact that they will be able to connect to the grid for a permanent source of electricity. If not, they can be exchanged for a new one once depleted. The mobile charging stations can also be powered by renewable sources like wind and solar energy, a rage in Germany, effectively bringing the carbon emissions of the electric cars charged through it to zero.
Volkswagen will initiate the mobile charging stations in its hometown, Wolfsburg, and further roll out to other cities in 2020.