The crazy VW BUDD-e concept above was the first showing of VW’s Modular Electric Platform, a platform that Autoblog reports will be used for a 2020 production car that could travel up to 373 miles on a charge. That’s a very big number.
The Paris Motor Show is going to be a big deal for Volkswagen this year, as Jürgen Stackmann from VW’s board of management told the car news site the brand will use the show as a “lighthouse to show you where we are heading as a brand.”
That direction apparently includes production of an electric car for 2020 that will be built on the Modular Electric Platform (aka MEB)—a platform which can, according to VW’s battery electric vehicles chief Christian Senger, accommodate batteries for up to 373 miles of range.
We don’t know if the production car, which VW will show a concept version of at the Paris Motor Show later this month, will actually achieve those numbers, and on which government drive cycle. But Senger did tell the auto site that 250-ish miles is the lower threshold of what customers want, so it’s safe to say the car will achieve at least that. And that’s still a heck of a lot of range compared to what’s out there today.
The new platform also promises lots of interior space compared to an internal combustion-driven car, as the batteries will sit in the floor. Senger told Autoblog he expects the new car to have lots of fancy tech like large displays, gesture controls and haptic feedback, saying it will be “highly automated.”
He also used the cliche “The car of tomorrow must feel like a mobile device on wheels.” (Ugh.)
This all makes sense. VW is trying to rebuild its image after the Dieselgate scandal and part of the $14.7 billion settlement included requiring VW to pay $2.7 billion into an environmental trust to remedy TDI pollution. That settlement also requires VW has to spend $2 billion in zero emissions vehicle infrastructure, so clearly, the company has lots of reasons to get in on the EV game.
We’ll what the concept version of this 2020 EV looks like in a few weeks in Paris.