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Today, Volkswagen Group Components opened the Group’s first plant for recycling electric car batteries in Salzgitter. As pilot operation commences, the Volkswagen Group takes another committed step towards sustainable end-to-end responsibility for the entire value chain of the electric vehicle battery. The aim is the industrialised recovery of valuable raw materials such as lithium, nickel, manganese and cobalt in a closed loop together with aluminium, copper and plastics, achieving a recycling rate of more than 90% over the long term.

The unique feature of the Salzgitter plant is that it only recycles batteries that can no longer be used for other purposes. Before the battery is recycled, an analysis determines whether the battery is still powerful enough to be given a second life in mobile energy storage systems such as the flexible rapid charging station or the mobile charging robot, for example. Larger volumes of battery returns are not expected until the late 2020s at the earliest. Therefore, the plant has been designed to initially recycle up to 3,600 battery systems per year during the pilot phase – this is the equivalent to approximately 1,500 tonnes. In future, the system can be scaled up to handle larger quantities as the process is consistently optimised.

“Volkswagen Group Components has achieved a further step in its sustainable end-to-end responsibility for the battery as a key component of electric mobility,” asserted Thomas Schmall, Member of the Board of Management of Volkswagen AG, Technical Division, and Chairman of the Board of Management of Volkswagen Group Components, and added: “We are implementing the sustainable recyclable materials cycle – and play a pioneering role in the industry for a future-oriented issue with great potential for climate protection and raw material supply.”

The innovative and CO2-saving recycling process does not require energy-intensive melting in a blast furnace. The used battery systems are delivered, deep discharged, and dismantled. The individual parts are ground into granules in the shredder and then dried. In addition to aluminium, copper and plastics, the process also yields valuable “black powder”, which contains the important raw materials for batteries such as lithium, nickel, manganese, and cobalt, as well as graphite. The separation and processing of the individual substances by hydrometallurgical processes ‒ using water and chemical agents ‒ is subsequently carried out by specialised partners.

“As a consequence, essential components of old battery cells can be used to produce new cathode material,” explains Mark Möller, Head of the Business Unit Technical Development & E-Mobility: “From research, we know that recycled battery raw materials are just as efficient as new ones. In future, we intend to support our battery cell production with the material we recover. Given that the demand for batteries and the corresponding raw materials will increase drastically, we can put every gram of recycled material to good use.”

The CO2 savings are calculated at approximately 1.3 tonnes per 62 kWh battery manufactured using cathodes made from recycled material and using green electricity.

Article source: www.volkswagen-newsroom.com

Volkswagen Passenger Cars has hit the ground running in the transition to electric mobility. “2020 was a turning point for Volkswagen and marked a breakthrough in electric mobility,” said Ralf Brandstätter, CEO of Volkswagen Passenger Cars. Last year, the brand delivered more electric vehicles worldwide than ever before, handing over more than 212,000 electric cars in total (+158 percent versus 2019), including nearly 134,000 battery electric vehicles (+197 percent versus 2019). “We are well on track to achieve our aim of becoming the market leader in battery electric vehicles,” Brandstätter continued. “More than any other company, we stand for attractive and affordable e-mobility.”

Despite a challenging market environment, Volkswagen delivered around 5.328 million vehicles across all drive systems to customers around the world. This is a decline of around 15 percent compared to the previous year. In the month of December, the brand continued its final sprint toward the end of the year and was only slightly below the very good monthly figures of the previous year with minus two percent. “Volkswagen showed its strengths in 2020. Despite all of the restrictions in automotive trade caused by the pandemic, we were able to maintain our global market share and even expand it in several regions,” said Klaus Zellmer, the board member responsible for Sales of Volkswagen Passenger Cars. “This shows that we have attractive products that excite our customers and a highly motivated dealership organization.”

ID.3 leaps straight to pole position on the sales chart in many countries in Europe

Volkswagen Passenger Cars launched nine new electric and plug-in hybrid models in 2020. This brought the share of BEV and hybrid vehicles in Europe up to 12.4 percent of the brand’s total deliveries – after 2.3 percent in 2019. The most popular model was the ID.3 with 56,500 units sold – even though this only came on the market in September – followed by the e-Golf with around 41,300 units and the Passat GTE with approximately 24,000 units. Some 68,800 units of the ID.3 were ordered in 2020 and more than 56,500 have already been delivered to customers – including to some 14,400 customers in Germany. “We really hit the bullseye with the ID.3,” said Zellmer. “Even though it was only introduced in the second half of the year, it ranked in the top of the sales charts in many countries almost right away.”

In fact, the ID.3 was the most frequently delivered BEV in Finland, Slovenia and Norway in December. In Sweden, the ID.3 was actually the top-selling car in December 2020 in absolute numbers – regardless of the type of drive. In the Netherlands and Germany, Volkswagen Passenger Cars managed to leap to the number one spot in all-electric vehicles over the full-year 2020 – with a share of 23.8 percent in Germany in the BEV market and 23 percent in the Netherlands.

The breakthrough of electric mobility was also evident in the German fleet market, where the share of BEV and PHEV vehicles ordered increased to around 22 percent in total, up from around 2 percent in 2018 and some 5 percent in 2019.

ID.4 and plug-in hybrids to provide additional boost in 2021

Following closely on the heels of the ID.3, Volkswagen’s second all-electric model, the ID.4 is being successively launched. It is the brand’s first all-electric world car and as an SUV is also right in line with customer trends: the share of SUVs of Volkswagen’s total deliveries worldwide rose from 29.8 percent in 2019 to 34.8 percent in 2020.Klaus Zellmer said: “For 2021, we plan to increase our global market share.” In addition to the hybrid offensive started in 2020, the new BEV models will also provide a boost here.

Article source: www.volkswagen-newsroom.com

Based on preliminary figures, Volkswagen Passenger Cars has exceeded the ambitious European CO2 fleet targets for 2020 and produced around six million grams fewer CO2 than required by law. The passenger car fleet of new vehicles in the European Union achieved average CO2 emissions of 92g/km – the legal CO2 target for the brand was 97g/km. As a result, CO2 emissions fell by 22 percent compared to the previous year.

"Volkswagen continues to advance the transformation of the industry. In 2015, we kicked off the largest and most comprehensive electric offensive in the industry. By significantly exceeding our CO2 targets, we have shown that the brand is on the right track. In 2021, we will continue to accelerate the transformation towards electric mobility with new models,” said Volkswagen Passenger Cars CEO, Ralf Brandstätter. 

Between 2020 and 2024, the company will invest more than eleven billion euros into electric mobility, transform further production facilities such as Emden or Chattanooga (USA) following the plants in Zwickau and Dresden and wants to bring 20 new fully electric models onto the market by 2025. “We want to develop Volkswagen into the most attractive brand for sustainable mobility. We are continuously pursuing this goal with our “Way to Zero” and will energize the brand even further in future,” Brandstätter continued. In the current fiscal year, Volkswagen will expand its offerings based on the modular electric drive matrix (MEB): This way, the fully electric models ID.4, ID.4 GTX and ID.5 will gradually be launched in international markets.

With the start of the electric offensive, Volkswagen has already delivered more electric vehicles this past year than ever before – 212,000 units. At 134,000, the portion of fully electric vehicles tripled when compared to the previous year – of which 56,500 vehicles were the fully electric ID.3 model. In fact, the ID.3 was the most frequently delivered BEV in Finland, Slovenia and Norway in December – in the Netherlands this was even the case three months in a row. In Sweden, the ID.3 was actually the top-selling car in December 2020 in absolute numbers – regardless of the type of drive. In the Netherlands and Germany, Volkswagen Passenger Cars also managed to leap to the number one spot in all-electric vehicles over the full-year 2020 – with a share of 23.8 percent in Germany in the BEV market and 23 percent in the Netherlands.

The final confirmation by the EU Commission on the fleet targets is to follow at a later date.

Article source: www.volkswagen-newsroom.com

It’s full speed ahead for the icon of the Volkswagen Passenger Cars brand, the Golf, since all eight derivatives were made available in the fall of 2020. Last year it was once again the top-selling car in Europe with around 312,000 deliveries The Wolfsburg figurehead was once again the top-selling car in Germany last year, too, with around 133,900 deliveries to customers. “In 2020 the Golf is still exactly where it belongs,” says Ralf Brandstätter, CEO of Volkswagen Passenger Cars.

“With the Golf 8 we are seamlessly continuing the success story of its previous generations. The car is continuing to set technical standards in many dimensions,” said Brandstätter. “After the outbreak of the coronavirus in spring interrupted the market launch that had just started, the Golf had a lot of catching up to do in the second half of the year.

In particular, the availability of all of the important model derivatives, such as the GTI, GTD und GTE, gave the Golf a second wind in the third quarter,” Brandstätter continued. The high demand for hybrid models also contributed to this success. Because of this, by the end of the year one in three Golfs was a hybrid. You can also see just how dynamic the back end of the year was in the fact that, of the approximately 312,000 Golf models delivered in Europe, around 179,000 hit the streets in the second half of the year alone.

At the end of the year, the Golf was by far and away at the top of registration statistics in Germany, followed by two other Volkswagen models, the Tiguan and the Passat. A car from competitors only made it as high as fourth place on the sales list.

The Golf was unanimously named the best car in the compact class by German trade press and won all 16 comparative tests in the Auto Motor und Sport, Auto Bild and Auto Zeitung magazines. The customers are of the same opinion, making the Golf the number 1 once again. “I would like to thank all of the customers who have given us their trust. But my gratitude also goes to our entire team that have done an excellent job during the difficult conditions of the coronavirus crisis,” said Brandstätter.

Article source: www.volkswagen-newsroom.com