Zwickau

Volkswagen presents today the ID.5 GTX „Xcite“ to the public for the first time today at the ID. Meet in Locarno (Switzerland). This vehicle is an individual product made by apprentices at Volkswagen’s three locations in Saxony, at Zwickau, Dresden and Chemnitz. For one year, 14 of the best budding specialists worked on a project to demonstrate their skills with considerable creativity and responsibility under expert supervision – from the first design through the adaptation of the bodywork and paintwork to technical commissioning. In addition to sustainability, reflected by vegan leather in the interior, the main focus of this year’s project was on holistic mobility. The ID.5 GTX „Xcite“ already has on board an electric skateboard for the last few meters to the driver’s destination. This is the eighth project of its type completed since 2014.

Today, at the Zwickau vehicle plant, Volkswagen commissioned the first fast-charging park in Saxony, which is supplied with energy largely from a so-called power storage container (PSC). The PSC is a type of enormous electricity storage unit and consists of 96 cell modules with a net capacity of 570 kWh. The advantage is that fast-charging infrastructure can be built nearly anywhere, even if in places with a low-capacity grid connection. Residential areas are one example of where this could be used. Additionally, this solution is sustainable: all cell modules in the PSC were formerly installed as batteries in pre-production models of the ID.3 and ID.4 and have now been given a second purpose. With the pilot project, Volkswagen Sachsen is putting its technology expertise on display, which goes beyond the manufacturing of its six all-electric vehicles. Two other central German companies – AW Automotive and Automotive Research – were involved in the realization of the project.

Volkswagen is driving forward the shift to electric vehicle manufacturing with its ACCELERATE strategy. Today’s official start of production of the ID.5 and ID.5 GTX marks the completion of Volkswagen’s successful transformation of its Zwickau plant into a dedicated electric vehicle production facility. The long-established site in western Saxony is the first large-scale facility of any volume manufacturer worldwide to switch over all production from internal combustion engine vehicles to electric vehicles. Six models from the Volkswagen, Audi and CUPRA brands will now be manufactured in Zwickau based on the modular electric drive matrix (MEB). The plants in Emden (ID.4), Hanover (ID. Buzz) and Chattanooga (USA, ID.4) will be added to the electric vehicle production network this year. The Volkswagen brand has thus laid the foundations for building 1.2 million all-electric-vehicles at its sites in Europe, the USA and China in 2022 based on the MEB.