At their current annual media convention, Volkswagen Group officers unveiled a brand new battery configuration—not a brand new battery, however a brand new approach of arranging them. Why does this matter?

The association of batteries in automobiles instantly impacts their vary. By exploring this strategy—one already pioneered by China’s BYD—Volkswagen Group, which incorporates Audi and Porsche, might create automobiles with spectacular vary at a considerably decrease price.

The Fundamentals of the Know-how

Volkswagen’s new battery association, Cell to Pack (CTP), has been years within the making. Final 12 months, VW reached an settlement with truckmaker Mahindra to provide the expertise, though the German automaker hadn’t supplied an in depth description of what their model of CTP—generally known as unified cells—would truly appear like at the moment. Nonetheless, this analysis has been underway for at the least 5 years.

Chinese language automaker BYD already makes use of CTP, and it has been steered—although not confirmed—that Tesla employs it within the Model Y. It is necessary to notice there isn’t any strict definition of what CTP entails, however the idea is comparatively easy, with three key causes to undertake it.

Purpose 1: it gives structural rigidity via a “frameless” design. Primarily, CTP permits the battery pack to function the body and flooring of the automobile, eliminating the necessity for a separate body. The principle advantage of this strategy is evident: decreased weight.

Chopping Prices by Tailoring Know-how to Completely different Vehicles

CTP additionally reduces redundancy within the circuitry. Much like what BYD does with the Seal, Volkswagen plans to make use of a wired battery administration system to watch the battery’s circuitry—primarily adopting the identical strategy as BYD.

As first reported by Auto Express, Volkswagen can use lithium-ion phosphate (LFP) batteries, which they’ve already launched within the ID.3 (in Europe) and plan to make use of within the upcoming ID.1—although it might or could not come to the U.S. Regardless, VW—and Audi and Porsche—clients ought to take be aware.

CTP batteries make automobiles lighter, and lighter automobiles are merely extra gratifying to drive. Furthermore, CTP would not must depend on LFP, however it’s a extra reasonably priced choice, and VW has been spending as much as a 3rd of the price of every EV on battery expertise. A breakthrough is essential within the race to develop extra reasonably priced EV tech, lighter automobiles, and smaller automobiles with first rate vary.

A Transitional Know-how

The final word objective in battery expertise is solid-state technology. To place it merely, elevated “density” is like becoming extra gasoline into the same-sized tank.

Whereas we’re nonetheless a number of years away from mass-producing solid-state batteries, which can handle this problem and extra, CTP serves as a transition to solid-state expertise. It permits for using cheaper supplies like LFP within the same-sized “container.”

That is necessary as a result of LFP is a extra reasonably priced battery choice, however it’s much less energy-dense than pricier lithium-ion batteries. The answer is so as to add extra cells.

You get a lighter automobile general by decreasing structural weight—because of the elimination of a lot of the container holding the battery. This implies you should utilize a smaller motor, additional decreasing weight.

How-To Geek’s Take

There’s one complication: tariffs. Volkswagen’s objective is to construct a number of equivalent battery plants worldwide. The thought is modularity, the place every battery plant follows the identical design, and each EV automotive platform is basically the identical as nicely—simply scaled up or down relying on what’s constructed on high.

For instance, a battery plant in Canada (the place VW has its North American facility) might produce batteries for high-demand automobiles within the U.S., akin to Volkswagen, Audi, and Porsche crossovers. Likewise, crops in Germany and Spain might provide batteries for smaller automobiles which are extra widespread in these markets. Nonetheless, if VW wished to convey the new electric Golf to the U.S. however had been primarily producing them in Mexico as a substitute of Tennessee, these automobiles can be imported from Mexico.

Nonetheless, this plan has been difficult by tariffs on Canada and Mexico and upcoming tariffs on Europe. On the press convention, Volkswagen COO Arno Antlitz defined that one in all VW’s responses can be to supply extra Golfs in Mexico for export to Europe, as there isn’t any commerce warfare between the EU and Mexico.

The potential affect—which future electrical Golf homeowners want to know—is that we could by no means see these automobiles within the U.S. Not as a result of there isn’t any demand, however as a result of U.S. tariffs would make them prohibitively costly and non-competitive, no matter any technological or pricing breakthroughs Volkswagen or different automakers would possibly obtain.