Electromobility
VW promises an electric car for 20,000 euros – but the plan has a catch
Visually, the ID.1 planned by Volkswagen should be based on the successful small car VW Up
© Volkswagen / PR
Cheap electric cars are coming – but not too soon. Volkswagen says it is “well advanced” with the development of an e-Up successor, but there is still a long way to go.
New models
Cheaper electricity: These cheap electric cars are expected to come onto the market soon
Schäfer said that they were “already in the middle” of development and knew “what the car should look like,” quoted the DPA, among others. Development boss Kai Grünitz added: “In terms of the use of the car, the ID.1 will be very similar to the Up. In terms of appearance, there are not that many options for designing a small vehicle for the city.”
Small electric cars pose major problems for manufacturers
The VW Group is currently still working on solutions to put the project on an economically sound footing. Because that would be “extremely challenging,” Schäfer explained. The cheaper a model, the higher the number of units would have to be, according to the explanation. According to Volkswagen, this is due to the high battery costs. It is said that Volkswagen is, among other things, examining cooperation with other manufacturers in order to be able to achieve lower prices through joint projects.
Volkswagen is sticking to the group’s electric course, which other manufacturers are increasingly having difficulty following – also due to a decline in demand. In the medium term, the Golf, Tiguan and T-Roc models will also be brought “into the electric future,” it said.
The fact that even one of the largest car manufacturers in the world takes a long time to bring cheap electric cars onto the market shows a general problem in the industry. Due to the amount of technology required for the construction of new vehicles and the production of electric cars, prices are constantly rising.
Tesla, Smart and Co. apparently have the same problem
Tesla has also been talking for some time about wanting to offer an affordable small car. The car, often referred to as the Model 2, should even be built in Berlin, Elon Musk recently announced during a visit to the site. What is missing? To date, Tesla has yet to come up with concrete plans and start production – such a vehicle also seems to be a big challenge for Musk.
In conversation with the star Smart Germany boss Wolfgang Ufer also explained that they are of course planning to reduce the prices for electric cars, but that there is nothing they can do at the moment. When asked how they wanted to convey to customers the generally high prices for new electric vehicles, he replied: “The enormous amount of modern technology and our requirement that the cars should also offer a certain range cannot currently be packaged more cheaply. Of course there are still Cheaper electric cars are our goal – but not now.”
The federal government, of all people, apparently put a significant damper on the market, as it provided an incentive to buy with the environmental bonus for a long time and ended the financial support almost without notice. According to Ufer, this caused great uncertainty among customers and resulted in, at least in the short term, “enormous reluctance.”