VW-Baunatal: Full trip to the e-future! Employees cheer!

VW-Baunatal: Full trip to the e-future! Employees cheer!

On Wednesday, Volkswagen AG (VW) announced that the work in Baunatal from 2029 will manufacture electric drives for a new generation of vehicle. This decision triggered cheers among employees because it means planning security for many families. Carsten Büchling, the chairman of the works council, described the news as a positive step for the location, which in the past few months had to fight with impending factory closings, mass layoffs and wage cuts. Previously, Büchling had characterized a drop in profits of 31 percent as painful for the company.

The transformation process of manufacturing in Baunatal continues. App 550, an electric drive, is currently being produced there, while the old drive technology is being continued as a transition technology until the new drive is introduced. Jörg Fenstermann, the plant manager, sees the electrification an enormous opportunity for the location. With the planned switch to electric drives in Hall 2, an important step has already been taken.

new platform for electromobility

A central component of the switch to electric drives is the introduction of the Scalable Systems Platform (SSP), which VW wants to convert to the only platform for electric vehicles by the end of the decade. Volkswagen currently has four platforms for electric vehicles, but is planning consolidation and standardization to reduce complexity. By 2026, the SSP platform is to be introduced in compact vehicles under the code name "Project Trinity".

The SSP uses parts of the existing MEB platform, which is already used in the VW ID.3 and ID.4 models, and the upcoming PPE platform for Premium EVS, which will be introduced in five vehicles next year. VW Group CEO Herbert Diess emphasizes the advantages of a uniform platform approach to maximize synergies. The SSP is described as fully electrically, fully digital and highly scalable and should also be made accessible to other automobile manufacturers.

strategic developments at Volkswagen

Volkswagen plans to produce around 40 million vehicles on the SSP platform by 2030, which should enable the standardization of the platforms with an internal combustion engine and fully electrical drive. The standardization and the company's own operating system VW.OS will also be part of the strategy to increase the efficiency and development of your own vehicle software. It is currently estimated that around 60 percent of the vehicle software will be developed internally up to the time, compared to only 10 percent today.

In this context, Car.software Division, which was founded in 2020, will play a central role. It will not only be responsible for the development of the software, but also for the integration of self -driving systems. With this new strategy, VW wants to accelerate the transformation into a software -oriented company and strengthen its own market presence through the modularity and differentiation of the brands. The automobile manufacturer places great hopes for the SSP and sees this as the future backbone of its e-mobility strategy until 2035.

The comprehensive changeover from VW to the Scalable Systems Platform is part of a larger plan that not only takes into account technological aspects, but also focuses on the well -being of the employees. The electrification of vehicle production could play a crucial role for numerous workplaces at the Baunatal location, such as Elektroauto-news.net