In the most recent edition of Volkswagen’s ViaVision Magazine, the upcoming Volskwagen E-Up!, VW’s first production electric vehicle, was the main feature. The magazine describes Volkswagen’s electric motors, batteries, and the first e-Golf electric vehicle prototypes first developed in 1976.
Volkswagen is producing electric drives and battery packs in house, much like other EV manufacturers like Tesla, Nissan and BMW. The production facility in Brunswick has the capability to produce 11,000 battery systems for the Volkswagen e-Up! each year. In the future, the Brunswick plant will also build battery packs for the Volkswagen e-Golf.
Interestingly, Volkswagen has decided to skip liquid cooling for its battery packs. “Cooling is not necessary: in driving mode the battery does not heat up beyond the permitted temperature range, even when temperatures are high outside the car.” That’s the same route Nissan went, and we all know they had some issues in hot states like Arizona.
The decision of liquid-cooling or not doesn’t alone make for good or bad sales, it really comes down to the battery warranty support that Volkswagen will offer for it’s passively cooled batteries.
