As automakers look to spice up EV effectivity, Volkswagen believes bringing improvement of extra elements in-house will result in huge beneficial properties. VW introduced this technique shift at its Tech Day 2023 occasion, claiming effectivity enhancements of as much as 20% by creating its personal optimized elements.
“The Volkswagen Group and its manufacturers stand for first-class merchandise and applied sciences,” VW Group CEO Oliver Blume stated in a press release. “Because of the scale and breadth of the group, in addition to our in-house experience, we are able to leverage economies of scale.”
Future Volkswagen thermal administration unit developed in-house
VW used to depend on a number of massive suppliers—most notably Bosch—for key powertrain elements. However as Tesla has identified with its automobiles, there could also be some benefit to engineering all accomplished inside the firm. VW appears able to strive that strategy.
Engineers have designed a brand new pulse inverter and its management software program from the bottom up, in accordance with a VW press launch. The in-house design used the identical modular philosophy because the MEB platform developed for VW’s mass-market EVs, and thus with the whole lot from entry-level automobiles to sports activities automobiles with an output of 500 kw (670 hp), the automaker claims. It is at the moment being refined for series-production use within the subsequent MEB iteration.
Future (left) and present Volkswagen thermal-management {hardware}
One other space focused for in-house optimization is thermal administration. In place of the present tangle of particular person modules and hoses, the goal is to have an “all-in-one” that may deal with temperature management for each the battery pack and cabin. This new module is “considerably lighter, extra strong and extra environment friendly” than present variations, and contributes to elevated vary and extra strong fast-charging functionality, VW claims.
It is unclear when these elements will attain manufacturing, however VW has already teased a mid-decade enhance for its MEB platform for reasonably priced EVs. And within the meantime it is giving MEB automobiles some added vary and sooner charging.