In the transition to electric driving, major manufacturers are opting for different approaches. Volkswagen and BMW, for example, clearly differ in this area. The Volkswagen CEO defends his approach.
Anyone in the market for an electric car can opt for a car developed purely as a BEV or a car that is available with both a fuel engine and fully electric. The second is, for example, the approach at BMW, which is called ‘the power of choice’. The iX3 is an X3 with an electric powertrain, the i4 will be a 4-series Gran Coupé with electric power, and so on. The new iX is an exception to this, but it is clear that BMW is not yet fully committed to cars developed purely as BEV. That is very understandable; it costs a lot of money to develop a model solely for the electric driver and that market is many times smaller than the market for conventionally powered cars. BMW is certainly not alone in this. For example, PSA is currently still fully committed to supplying an electric variant of models that are also sold with a combustion engine. There are also many brands that do little with fully electric driving at all.
Volkswagen is different, just like Mercedes-Benz and more and more other manufacturers. That puts a huge amount of money into the rigging of a model series that is only available electrically and allows it to exist alongside the models with combustion engine. The Volkswagen ID3, Skoda Enyaq and Audi e-tron are some examples. “The idea is to make fully electric cars for all major segments,” explains Volkswagen Group CEO Herbert Diess Automobilwoche. According to Diess, the demand for BEVs has grown enough to justify this financially. “When electric mobility was still a niche market with a share of less than 1 percent, it was only wise to electrify existing platforms. We did that with the Gulf, for example (…), but now the volumes are increasing, is our ID. platform the best and most logical solution. “
Although Diess does not necessarily want to undermine a different approach, he is clearly convinced that the ‘hybrid’ produces lesser cars: “If you develop a platform that is not intended for combustion engines and EVs, the EVs will become very good. That is why we are went for a separate platform. ” Now the question is how fast things are going and at what rate the investments required for this will be recouped. In that light, Diess does not see it as a negative thing that various governments want to ban the fuel engine from the showroom in the foreseeable future: “Limiting the sale of combustion engines or even a complete ban will determine what can still be bought in the future. “