Cheap and Green: Volkswagen Wants to Build You a Low-Priced Electric

Steph Willems
by Steph Willems

“Do those non-diesel things, only better,” seems to be Volkswagen’s mantra these days.

The aftermath of the continuing diesel emissions scandal saw the embattled automaker dive deep into cleaner technology, and it now looks like VW wants its name on a relatively cheap electric vehicle, Autocar reports (via Carscoops).

The company has been bullish on electrification ever since the scandal broke, but its current financial situation means careful planning is in order. The standalone EV model would likely ride atop VW’s modular MEB platform, which the company sees as being a big money saver — once more models begin using it.

If the company reaps the anticipated benefits of its plug-in platform, it hopes to offer the new EV at a price lower than its electric e-Golf, with a far better range.

“The MEB platform toolkit gives us the perfect opportunity to gain scale by using the platform solution in as many ways as possible,” said Frank Welsch, technical development head for VW. “If we can achieve scale then all sorts of things will become open to us, from reduced costs to faster R&D.”

The newest version of the e-Golf (which carries an MSRP of $28,995, before a federal tax credit) arrives in less than a year with a 108-mile range, better than the current model’s 83-mile range, but lagging that of upcoming models like the Chevrolet Bolt and Tesla Model 3.

To stand out from the pack, the company is aiming for a 310-mile range for its future EV (or a nicely rounded 300 kilometres for metric aficionados), with an ultra-fast charging time of 15 minutes.

Volkswagen’s green epiphany isn’t relegated to just battery-powered vehicles and hybrids. Last week, the automaker showed off its new 1.5-liter four-cylinder gasoline engine, festooned with every gas-saving technology it could lay its hands on.

Steph Willems
Steph Willems

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  • Webbrowan Webbrowan on May 06, 2016

    Electric vehicles are on the rise in today’s market, so it is not surprising that auto giants including VW are jumping into the bandwagon too. It is not just about encouraging a greener lifestyle but it is also about reaping the profits from yet another prospective industry.

  • Redav Redav on May 06, 2016

    I don't buy the MEB platform propaganda. An EV is sufficiently different than a reg car due to size/shape of batteries, size of drivetrain, etc., that they should have a dedicated, optimized platform.

    • VoGo VoGo on May 06, 2016

      redav, The MEB platform *is* VW's dedicated platform for electric vehicles.

  • Rochester "better than Vinfast" is a pretty low bar.
  • TheMrFreeze That new Ferrari looks nice but other than that, nothing.And VW having to put an air-cooled Beetle in its display to try and make the ID.Buzz look cool makes this classic VW owner sad 😢
  • Wolfwagen Is it me or have auto shows just turned to meh? To me, there isn't much excitement anymore. it's like we have hit a second malaise era. Every new vehicle is some cookie-cutter CUV. No cutting-edge designs. No talk of any great powertrains, or technological achievements. It's sort of expected with the push to EVs but there is no news on that front either. No new battery tech, no new charging tech. Nothing.
  • CanadaCraig You can just imagine how quickly the tires are going to wear out on a 5,800 lbs AWD 2024 Dodge Charger.
  • Luke42 I tried FSD for a month in December 2022 on my Model Y and wasn’t impressed.The building-blocks were amazing but sum of the all of those amazing parts was about as useful as Honda Sensing in terms of reducing the driver’s workload.I have a list of fixes I need to see in Autopilot before I blow another $200 renting FSD. But I will try it for free for a month.I would love it if FSD v12 lived up to the hype and my mind were changed. But I have no reason to believe I might be wrong at this point, based on the reviews I’ve read so far. [shrug]. I’m sure I’ll have more to say about it once I get to test it.
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