The e-mobility revolution: Zwickau car factory is now “100% electric”
The last vehicle with a combustion engine produced in Zwickau marked the plant’s transformation into a “100% electric” car factory: six zero-emission models based on the MEB platform will be manufactured here from 2021.
In the past weeks the last model with a combustion engine left the assemly line in Zwickau: a Volkswagen Golf R Variant. From that moment onwards, production at the German plant switched to 100% electric – in other words, wholly focused on zero-emission models.
Currently electric cars for the Volkswagen brand are built here, but in the future the production will include also Audi and SEAT models. It’s a significant turning point for a factory steeped in tradition: established in 1904, the past 30 years alone have seen 6,049,207 Volkswagen vehicles produced, including Polo, Golf, Golf Variant, Passat and Passat Variant models.
A historic transition
This historic moment marks a bridge between the past and the future. The Zwickau plant is a benchmark in the German automotive tradition, and will become Europe’s largest electric vehicles factory.
In Hall 6, where the Golf Variant was previously built, the conversion work has begun and will continue for several weeks over the summer. Following completion of the work, the first electric vehicles – the Volkswagen ID.4 and an Audi SUV – will be produced there at the end of the year.
The series production of the ID.3 1st Edition has already been taking place for some time at the plant. The production capacity at Zwickau will increase up to 330.000 units per year.
Training
With the step-by-step transformation of the Zwickau plant, Volkswagen is for the first time switching a car factory over completely to electric mobility. The investments for the conversion amount to around 1.2 billion euros. Six models based on the MEB platform for three Group brands will be built here from 2021.
All 8,000 employees will be prepared for the production of electric cars and for handling high-voltage systems. In total, the Zwickau team will complete 20,500 days of training by the end of 2020.
The MEB platform
The Volkswagen ID.3 is the first MEB-based vehicle. The platform was developed specifically by the Group for electric cars and optimally exploits the possibilities offered by this technology: long ranges, plenty of interior space and dynamic driving behaviour. In addition to Zwickau, the ID.3 will also be produced at the Transparent Factory in Dresden from 2021.
Source: Volkswagen