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Volkswagen Predicts 500 Mile Range For EVs By 2020

 
1,223 views Aug 13, 2010
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2009 Volkswagen E-Up! Concept

2009 Volkswagen E-Up! Concept

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Volkswagen is intent on becoming the world’s leading automaker by 2018 and that means being the top dog in every segment, including hybrid and electric vehicles. In fact, the automaker is so serious about its electric car efforts that it recently announced plans to start building its own electric powertrains, and enlisted the help of Tesla co-founder Martin Eberhard.

Eberhard is the electric vehicle engineering director at Volkswagen’s Electronics Research Laboratory (ERL) in Palo Alto, California, and speaking recently with Autocar he predicted that within the next 10 years electric vehicles will have a range of 500 miles or more. He went on to explain that at the point the further development of fast charging infrastructure will be unnecessary as most drivers rarely drive more than 500 miles in a day.

At ERL, Eberhard’s main focus is the development of the lithium-ion battery packs for the Golf blue-e-motion and E-Up all-electric vehicles--both of which are destined for trials and eventual sale in the U.S. The batteries being developed at ERL are the 18650-type lithium-ion cells commonly found in laptops and they will also be used for the more premium Audi e-tron electric vehicles as well.

Eberhard explained that the common 18650-type battery is at the forefront of electrical storage technology. There’s also a cost factor; the 18650-type battery, for example, costs about half of that used by the Nissan Leaf.

Incidentally, in addition to electric drive systems, the engineers at ERL are also working on new driver assistance systems and human-machine interface technologies, as well as improving the multimedia functionality and connectivity for the different Volkswagen Group brands. Some of its latest developments, for example, are the autonomous Audis that competed in the DARPA Challenge as well as the Google Earth functionality for the sat-nav systems featured in the new Audi A8 and A7 models.

[Autocar]





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Comments (13)

  1. By  Bret Posted: 8/13/2010 8:42am PDT

    I don't get this guy. First, he says EVs are going to have a 500 mile range. Then, he says they are going to use the same old 18650 batteries. What he doesn't say is how they are going to increase the range. They can't put two tons of 18650 batteries in a Volkswagon.
     
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  2. By James Posted: 8/13/2010 8:43am PDT

    Volkswagen has stated this before that there goal is to be the number one selling automaker. It is great to hear that they want to be the number One EV maker as well. Every major automaker is brining EV’s to market but up to now Nissan has been the only one willing to produce EV’s in large numbers. It is unbelievable that almost every day there is new news and announcements on EV production and development. Keep them coming! Go EV’s!!!
     
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  3. By Bob Sullivan Posted: 8/13/2010 8:51am PDT

    How do you get 500 miles worth of electricity into the battery without fast charging? The leaf's 24Kwh takes 8 hours at 220V. That's good for 100 miles. So it would take 5X as long or 40 hours to fully charge the 500 mile 120Kwh battery.
     
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  4. By Eletruk Posted: 8/13/2010 10:07am PDT

    The J1772 standard EV plug allows for up to 70 Amps in their spec. The first generation Leaf will only use 6KW or 13Amps to charge. If they upgrade the battery pack, then the chargers could provide 16KW or almost triple the charge rate, but yes 500 miles even at that rate would still take 8-10 hours (depends on charge leveling, etc.).
    The bigger issue is really why does somebody need 500 miles in an EV? Electric Vehicles are much better suited for commutes and urban driving. And really, who is sitting in their car driving for 9 hours (55 MPH) straight? You have to take breaks every once in a while, and while you do, why not recharge?
     
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  5. By James Posted: 8/13/2010 11:26am PDT

    I agree 500mi is overkill. 250mi range is a better number. Also, Price reduction should also be a huge factor to compete with ICE vehicals.
     
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  6. By B-Man Posted: 8/14/2010 12:32pm PDT

    Yeah, VW's ambition is speaking out their hindquarters just a tad here, aren't they, to claim No. 1 automaker in the WORLD by 2018? That's only 7 years from now! Where are they now, about 7th or 8th? And they've got those pesky Koreans ta deal with that also want No. 1 status eventually. Should help get us better and better cars to choose from, though. And no, I don't need a 500 mile range, though a 250 mile or a 300 mile range would be great. Actually, if they can affordably engineer a 500 mile range, more power to them. I think a 500 mile range is about ten years out at this point, though.
     
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  7. By cdspeed Posted: 8/14/2010 12:43pm PDT

    I like the idea of a 500 mile range you wouldn't have to charge as often. And I'm sure by the time we can do 500 miles on a charge someone will have come up with a faster way to charge. Perhaps faster charging will come from the battery being able to receive a charge faster, or a rapid charger, or both. BUT, I think we should all appreciate Volkswagen's optimism, what this article says to me is VW is looking at EVs as thee future of the automobile. We should be excited that VW ,one of the world's automotive super powers is getting into EVs and that they see a bright outcome in the EV revolution.
     
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  8. By cdspeed Posted: 8/14/2010 1:24pm PDT

    I'd like to add, some people like to go on long road trips. If you're traveling say 1,500 miles, right now an EV would be hell. But an EV that could do between 300 to 500 miles and charge maybe in say 30 minutes to 2 hours you could travel several hundred miles and stop for a rest while your car charges. If your only a city dweller you don't need a high range but some people like to go further and what about delivery trucks, they need to run all day and would need a high range, stopping for long charges could ruin UPS.
     
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  9. By David Posted: 8/15/2010 3:44pm PDT

    @B-Man In regard to where VW is now they are currently a very close 2nd to Toyota in global sales. Also unlike some of the other companies they have continued to do well financially. They invest a lot of money in research and they have the deep pockets to do it.
     
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  10. By Stephen_B Posted: 8/16/2010 8:49am PDT

    Lofty goals like being #1 are a bit audacious, but on the other hand no guts no glory.
    The idea of using cheap energy dense batteries has merit. If enough of them are in parallel, they are also power dense. Laptop batteries are optimized for energy density. Obviously, they receive a lot of research attention. One possible scenario is that they maintain a price advantage over quick charging batteries while storing more energy and becoming cheaper.
     
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  11. By Jeff N Posted: 8/16/2010 12:12pm PDT

    Eletruk sez:
    "The first generation Leaf will only use 6KW or 13Amps to charge."
    I'm pretty sure the Leaf's internal charger, like the Volt's, is only capable of handling around 3.3KW. That also roughly matches 240V x 13A.
    I heard a Nissan executive comment on NPR last Friday that supporting 6KW would cost more and they waiting for customer feedback before upgrading to handle 6KW.
     
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  12. By B-Man Posted: 8/16/2010 9:44pm PDT

    Well, apparently people don't worry about reliability in their new car purchases, then, because VW consistently bring up the bottom 3rd in that category.
     
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  13. By David Posted: 8/17/2010 5:59pm PDT

    Stastics can be misleading. Agree there may be more reliable cars however that doesn't change their sales numbers. Personally all I can say is I have owned 6 of them through the years. Loved all of them. Had a lot of other brands too. What my next car will be is not certain but VW will be high on my list of possibilities.
     
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