Power Day makes headlines

Volkswagen's first Power Day on March 15 met with a very strong international response. The event, at which the Group presented its technology roadmap for battery and charging until 2030, was broadcast with livestreams on five Volkswagen digital channels and generated a total of more than one million views. The event, which lasted around two hours, was moderated from Wolfsburg and included live feeds to China, Sweden, the UK, Italy, Spain and the US.

The focus was on the development of a comprehensive network of factories for battery cell production for e-cars: six gigafactories with a total capacity of 240 gigawatt hours are to be built in Europe alone by the end of the decade. Production of Volkswagen premium cells will be concentrated at the Swedish "Northvolt Ett" gigafactory in Skellefteå. The gigafactory in Salzgitter, which is now operated by Volkswagen, will produce the unit cell for the volume segment from 2025 - the unit cell is to be installed in up to 80 percent of all the Group's e-vehicles across all brands in 2030. Volkswagen thus intends to gradually reduce the cost of batteries in the entry-level segment by up to 50 percent and in the volume segment by up to 30 percent.

The international media response has been positive: Volkswagen began the shift to electric cars early - and is now reaping the rewards of its own strategy, reports Handelsblatt. "While other manufacturers have just started developing their first electric vehicles, Volkswagen is already thinking about the next electric expansion in the second half of the decade." Reuters wrote: "The first 60 minutes were a very, very crisp and cool presentation," Reuters said. "Not only did charts and graphs appear in the background to accompany the speakers' presentations. Holograms were also played on stage, such as of the inside of a battery cell or of an electric car that had a battery pack virtually inserted into it. The group probably scored points with many of the spectators with this," wrote Manager Magazin.

The overarching goal of the technology roadmap is to significantly reduce the complexity and cost of the battery in order to make the e-car attractive and affordable for as many people as possible. At the same time, the Group wants to secure the demand for battery cells beyond 2025. Volkswagen is also vigorously driving forward the global expansion of the public fast-charging network. In Europe, the company has entered into cooperation agreements with the energy companies BP (UK), Iberdrola (Spain) and Enel (Italy).

The Group makes all key information, background and materials available to the general public in the Volkswagen Newsroom - from presentation charts, infographics and photo material to press releases and sound bites from the event protagonists.