VW's MEB electric car platform: full details revealed

In a press release, head of the E-mobility production series, Christian Senger, said, “The ID will be a milestone in technological development. It will be the first fully electric car with full everyday utility that millions of people will be able to afford.”

Senger later told Autocar there will also be two plants in China as well as plants in North America and the Czech Republic where Skoda models will be produced. “Within the first 12 months, there will be four plants running, producing four brands, Volkswagen, Skoda, Seat and Audi.

VW to offer Tesla-style over-the-air software updates

MEB based cars will offer the interior space of a car one segment up thanks to the underfloor battery location and lack of centre tunnel. 

The ID will have a rear mounted motor driving the rear wheels with the DC to DC converter stepping the 400-volt high power battery down to 12 volts, with a high voltage electric heating system mounted at the front where the engine would sit in a front-wheel drive car. 

Some larger ID models will have all-wheel drive with an additional front–mounted motor with space freed up by moving some components like the DC to DC converter to the rear. There will be a large head-up display for instrumentation and the plan is to also equip I.D. cars with an augmented reality holographic-type menu system for connectivity and other functions.

There will be an all-new electrical architecture. “VW iOS” and ID cars will be online at all times, boosting connectivity and allowing over-the-air software and feature updates via a Volkswagen “back end” digital platform for security. Apps will also be securely updated via the digital platform and cars will be able to run third party apps such as Apple Carplay and Android Auto. The system will connect using 4G and have hardware in place to support higher speed 5G when the system is ready.  

Driving down cost is essential to get people to buy into EVs, said Senger. “The reason electric vehicles are not selling exponentially, is because they cost more than a conventional car. Soon after 2020 they need to cost the same as a conventional car, or less. 

Cost reduction on MEB will come not just from volume production and scale of economy improving the cost of batteries (which account for 40% of an EV’s total cost), but by paring down costs throughout the vehicle. Costs in other areas of an MEB vehicle will be half that of the existing e-Golf.

The rising cost of conventional cars will also bring cost parity. “The cost of combustion engine cars is rising because of emissions,” said Senger, adding that diesels will become less viable first, followed by petrol. 

Senger believes the EV market will ultimately have to stand on its own two feet without government incentives. “Subsidies are not sustainable,” he says. “The business plan must be based on no subsidies, then e-mobility can grow.”

Senger acknowledges that in the future, dealers will have far less opportunity to make money from servicing and maintenance as there will be much less to do on electric cars compared to conventional cars. He insists though, that the Volkswagen Group dealer networks will be looked after. “We believe are future is together with our dealers,” he says.

Volkswagen will guarantee a minimum of 70% usable battery capacity for seven years and Senger says there are a number of options available when batteries get older. One is to change the battery, another is to swap out failing individual modules and another is the re-use of batteries for stationary energy storage, an area which Senger believes will become huge in the future. Senger expects that beyond 2025, batteries will be 97% recyclable with only 3% going for scrap.