Printable VersionVolkswagen Presents Worldwide Research Alliance on Electric Mobility
Monday, July 19, 2010
PALO ALTO, Calif., July 19 -- Prof. Dr. Martin
Winterkorn, Chairman of the Board of Management
of Volkswagen AG, today reinforced the
importance of the electric mobility research
and initiatives taking place at Volkswagen's
Electronic Research Laboratory (ERL) in Silicon
Valley. During an afternoon tour at ERL,
Volkswagen's largest research facility outside
of the company's headquarters in Wolfsburg,
Germany, Winterkorn noted that the facility is
a key component of Volkswagen's efforts to
become the global leader in electric mobility
by 2018.
"In the future, the heart of
Volkswagen will also beat with electricity, and
our engineers in America, Europe and Asia are
laying the foundations for that in the research
alliance," Winterkorn said. "Volkswagen will be
the automaker that will offer the electric car
attainable for every
customer."
Volkswagen invests more than
$6.45 billion (5 billion Euros) annually in
research and development, and has more than
23,000 employees worldwide focused on these
initiatives, Winterkorn said.
The
investment required for development, especially
in the field of e-mobility, is based on sound
economic grounds, according to
Winterkorn. The operational result in the
first five months of the ongoing year has
developed better than expected; the same is
true for the Group's vehicle
sales.
Deliveries in the first half of
2010 increased to more than 3.5 million
vehicles (first half of 2009: 3.1 million), an
increase of around 15 percent. Winterkorn said
that the Volkswagen brand has plainly exceeded
the 2-million threshold in terms of deliveries
in the same time period, increasing the value
of the previous year (1.9 million vehicles)
likewise by around 15
percent.
Winterkorn noted that the Group
Research division at the company's headquarters
in Wolfsburg is responsible for innovation
across all of the Volkswagen's brands. Research
assignments and results are coordinated
there.
At ERL, more than 100 engineers
and scientists are working on the cars of
tomorrow. In addition to electric mobility, the
ERL team is working on driver assistance
systems, online navigation and social
networking/ geo-tagged information, among other
things. In addition to the Palo Alto facility,
the Group Research division includes the
Volkswagen Research Lab China (VRC) and
Technical Representative Tokyo
(VTT).
"Volkswagen is bundling research
and advance development activities for electric
cars worldwide," Winterkorn said. "In terms of
research, e-mobility is a key function for the
automobile of tomorrow."
What's
decisive for Volkswagen is the close, worldwide
cooperation and networking of the expert
groups, Winterkorn said. Thus, building
prototypes and the joint assessment of
performance and specification in automobiles
takes place across the research
alliance.
Within this global alliance
for research and advanced development,
Volkswagen is examining various energy storage
concepts, according to Winterkorn. In the field
of lithium-ion technology (li-ion), for
example, this means competition between
specially developed battery cells and so-called
consumer cells known from notebooks and other
devices.
Winterkorn said that some of
the research at ERL is focused on the battery
compound for automotive battery cells. These
cells, as well as intelligent controls (power
electronics) of the stored energy, help ensure
that vehicle cruising ranges are as wide as
possible and that reliability and safety issues
are managed and maintained.
Winterkorn
concluded his remarks by laying out the
company's e-mobility roadmap for vehicle
introductions into the United States. The
Touareg Hybrid will be launched later this
year, followed by the Jetta Hybrid in 2012. In
2013, either the E-Up! or the Golf
blue-e-motion will be Volkswagen's first
full-electric vehicle in the United
States.
"Our path to global leadership
also leads through the United States, because
we have considerable growth opportunities
here," Winterkorn said. "Our goal is to turn
Volkswagen into the leading volume brand here
as well."
About Volkswagen of America,
Inc.
Founded in 1955, Volkswagen
of America, Inc. is headquartered in Herndon,
Virginia. It is a subsidiary of
Volkswagen AG, headquartered in Wolfsburg,
Germany. Volkswagen is one of the world's
largest producers of passenger cars and
Europe's largest automaker. Volkswagen
sells the Eos, Golf, New Beetle, New Beetle
convertible, GTI, Jetta, Jetta Sportwagen,
Passat, Passat Wagon, CC, Tiguan, Touareg and
Routan through approximately 600 independent
U.S. dealers. All 2010 Volkswagens come
standard-equipped with Electronic Stabilization
Program. This is important because the
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
(NHTSA) has called ESC the most effective new
vehicle safety technology since the safety
belt. Visit Volkswagen of America online at
www.vw.com or www.media.vw.com to learn more.