Volkswagen hopes to scale its electric powertrain production costs down by using a unified battery cell.
According to VW board member in charge of development, Heinz-Jakob Neusser, the German automaker is targeting a 66-percent cost reduction with a new design that would rely on modules customized for each vehicle. It would allow the Volkswagen Group to use a single lithium-ion battery cell design for all of its electrified vehicles, even for other automakers in the group including Audi.
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Currently, Volkswagen uses a variety of lithium-ion cells across its lineup with the e-Golf, Golf GTE plug-in hybrid and Audi A3 equipped with cells from Panasonic. The upcoming Passat GTE and other Audi electrified vehicles will be using cells from Samsung. VW has a battery module assembly plant in Germany and a single-cell design would allow the company to take greater advantage of the facility.
[Source: Automotive News]
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