VW Group Components makes 40% of ID.4 components
The VW Group subsidiary Group Components has now published which parts their ‘Components’ division supplies for ID.4 and in which plants these parts and their preliminary products are manufactured.
According to Volkswagen Group Components (VWGC), it contributes around 40 per cent of the total value added to the electric SUV, which is allegedly ten percentage points more than a comparable internal combustion engine model. VWGC is an entrepreneurially independent business unit and is responsible for the development and production of strategic components for the Group brands.
According to Thomas Schmall, CEO of VWGC, MEB electric cars are an important driver for its own business. “The considerable share of added value that our components contribute to the vehicles of the Group brands is an indicator of our competitiveness,” says Schmall. “It underpins the Group’s electric offensive and shows that we have taken the right product decisions regarding our future focus. This means that Volkswagen Group Components is on the way to becoming one of the largest manufacturers of automotive e-components worldwide.”
Of course, this has already started with ID.3. For the compact model, which was primarily designed for the European market, VWGC had already set up the corresponding supply chains, which are now also applied to the components for ID.4. Since the electric SUV is designed as a “world-class car” and will also be built in China and in the future in the USA, further supply chains will be added for the ID.4.
The former transmission plant in Europe now primarily produces electric drives and platform components for the MEB for use in Europe, but the US plant in Chattanooga is also to receive its drives from northern Hesse in the future. The core elements of the electric motors – rotor and stator – will be produced in Salzgitter and delivered to Kassel, as with the ID.3. The motor housing will be cast in Hanover, the gearbox housing in the Polish plant Poznań. In Kassel, these parts are assembled with a locally manufactured intermediate housing and the interior of the 1-speed transmission to form the finished electric drive. In addition, some pressed parts are manufactured in Kassel.
This corresponds to the supply chain for the ID.3. New for the ID.4 is that a corresponding drive assembly has also been set up in Tianjin. In China, too, the battery system is assembled in a different component plant: while the battery system is manufactured in Braunschweig in Germany, the Chinese assembly is located in Foshan. In Europe, Braunschweig will continue to supply most chassis components to Zwickau and, from 2022, to Emden.
As mentioned, the car’s rotor and stator assembled in Kassel are built in Salzgitter. However, the location will become more important in the MEB value chain in the future due to the Center of Excellence (CoE) for battery cells. The battery cell factory is also being built in Salzgitter with Northvolt. The Group announced that a recycling pilot plant will also be commissioned in Salzgitter “in the coming weeks”. The perspective recycling rate of metals and valuable raw materials is stated as “more than 90 per cent”.
In addition to the components that VW Group Components produces for the ID.4 and other MEB models, other important platform suppliers have now been revealed: The MEB drive control unit comes from Continental’s drive division Vitesco Technologies. The Dutch semiconductor manufacturer NXP is the sole supplier for the battery management systems of the MEB platform. TI Fluid Systems (TIFS) builds the heat pump module for the ID.3 and ID.4.
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