Volkswagen on Friday said it predicts it will have built its one millionth electric car by the end of 2023, or two years earlier than previously predicted.
The automaker made the announcement after delivering its 250,000th EV, a white example of the soon-to-be-discontinued e-Golf hatch.
VW's first EV was the e-Up! minicar, launched all the way back in 2013, but the automaker expects sales of zero-emission vehicles to accelerate sharply in the coming years with the arrival of the new ID family. By as early as 2025, VW expects to be building 1.5 million EVs annually.
Production of the ID 3 hatch has already commenced at a plant in Zwickau, Germany. The plant is dedicated to EV production and from 2021 will build as many as 330,000 vehicles per year.
2021 Volkswagen ID 4 (Crozz) spy shots - Photo credit: S. Baldauf/SB-Medien
VW will also build EVs in China and the United States. In the U.S., the automaker will start production of the upcoming ID 4 crossover SUV at a plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee, in 2022. The ID 4 will reach local dealers in 2020, with the vehicles to be sourced from Germany initially. The ID 3 isn't expected to make it, though.
Note, the production targets are for the VW brand only. Sales of EVs from the entire Volkswagen Group will be notably higher since the auto giant will launch as many as 78 individual EV models across its brands by 2028. VW Group is investing 33 billion euros (approximately $37 billion) on EVs through 2024, with a third of this earmarked for the VW brand alone.
To power all of its EVs, VW Group is developing its own batteries. These will be sourced from a plant in Salzgitter, Germany, that VW Group will operate in partnership with Sweden's Northvolt.
VW Group is also investigating means to make charging its EVs easier for customers and more sustainable through initiatives like its Elli charging infrastructure subsidiary. The automaker also last week presented a concept for an automated robot that could charge cars in a parking garage.
