Start of production of VW ID.5 marks full tranformation of Zwickau into dedicated EV plant
29 January 2022
The official start of production of the Volkswagen ID.5 and ID.5 GTX marks the completion of Volkswagen’s successful transformation of its Zwickau plant into a dedicated electric vehicle production facility. The long-established site in western Saxony is the first large-scale facility of any volume manufacturer worldwide to switch over all production from internal combustion engine vehicles to electric vehicles.
Six models from the Volkswagen, Audi and CUPRA brands will now be manufactured in Zwickau based on the modular electric drive matrix (MEB). The plants in Emden (ID.4), Hanover (ID. Buzz) and Chattanooga (ID.4) will be added to the electric vehicle production network this year. The Volkswagen brand has thus laid the foundations for building 1.2 million all-electric-vehicles at its sites in Europe, the US and China in 2022 based on the MEB.
Volkswagen will continue to increase the pace of e-mobility in 2022 with its ACCELERATE strategy and the expansion of the model portfolio. The Zwickau production plant has paved the way for the Group to do this with six ramp-ups from three brands in just 26 months. The knowledge and experience gained will help us to continue to electrify our production network quickly and efficiently.
—Dr. Christian Vollmer, Member of the Board of Management of Volkswagen Brand responsible for Production
After Gläserne Manufaktur Dresden, we have now converted a second Volkswagen factory in Saxony to dedicated electric vehicle production. The start of production of the ID.5 and ID.5 GTX marks the successful transformation of the Zwickau plant on the product side. Our focus now—depending on how the semiconductor situation pans out—will be on achieving full capacity. This year we aim to exceed the 180,000 vehicles Volkswagen Saxony built in 2021.
—Dr. Stefan Loth, Chairman of the Board of Volkswagen Saxony
Since 2018, Volkswagen has spent around €1.2 billion on converting the Zwickau plant from ICE vehicle production into a digital, flexible, highly efficient showcase factory for the manufacture of electric vehicles. Increasing use is being made of technology such as smart Industry 4.0 robots and driverless transportation systems that take components to the assembly line completely autonomously.
Close to 40% of the investment volume went into the enhancement and expansion of the body shop alone. This area’s already high level of automation now reaches nearly 90%, and the number of state-of-the-art robots has risen from 1,200 to 1,625.
Automation in the assembly line has also been almost doubled to 28%, and production ergonomics have improved significantly. Only jobs involving monotonous or physically strenuous work have been affected, such as working with one’s hands above one’s shoulders or overhead work.
In total, more than 50,000 square meters of new building space have been created, such as for the expansion of the press shop, which is where all shell body parts for the electric models are now pressed on site—saving 9,000 truck trips per year. Other major projects involved construction of a new logistics building as well as a battery sequencer, which is now the tallest building at the Zwickau site. The volume of investment for these three projects alone is around €115 million.
Models and production figures. In Zwickau, six models from three brands will leave the production line: the Volkswagen ID.3, ID.4 and ID.5 plus the Audi Q4 e-tron, Q4 Sportback e-tron and CUPRA Born. The production capacity corresponds to an annual output of more than 300,000 vehicles, making the Zwickau plant currently the most efficient electric vehicle manufacturing facility in Europe.
Green production. With the models produced in Zwickau, Volkswagen only delivers vehicles to customers that are produced in a carbon-neutral manner throughout the entire supply and production chain. In the manufacturing process, carbon generation is avoided or reduced as far as possible and any unavoidable emissions are offset through climate action.
The carbon avoidance measures in manufacturing also extend to energy-intensive production of battery cells. Here, it was agreed that suppliers would use green electricity from renewable sources in cell production. The life-cycle assessment of electric vehicles can be improved further with this important tool.
At the Zwickau plant, the external power supply was switched over to 100% green electricity in 2017. Since production of the ID.3 began in November 2019, any remaining emissions from the site’s highly efficient cogeneration unit and the entire upstream chain have been offset for all models manufactured in Zwickau through certified climate projects implemented in accordance with officially recognized standards.
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