Volkswagen begins electric drive parts production in China

Volkswagen Group Components reinforces its position as a key supplier of central electric vehicle components for the brands and joint ventures of the Volkswagen Group in the most important market for electric mobility.

With immediate effect, the Chinese components factory in Tianjin, China will be producing the APP 310 electric motor on the Modular Electric drive Matrix (MEB). This component will be used in the Volkswagen ID.4 variants produced by the joint venture partners FAW (ID.4 Crozz) and SAIC (ID.4 X).

The Group's future MEB models for China will also be supplied locally. The main factory for electric drives at Volkswagen Group Components in Kassel, Germany produces the APP 310 motor for current and future MEB models in Europe and North America.

Automatic gearboxes have been produced at the Tianjin component plant since 2012. Following the ramp-up of the DQ400e hybrid engine and the APP 290 electric drive, the APP 310 represents the next milestone in the transformation to electric mobility.

The permanent magnet synchronous machine with the drive and gearbox parallel to the axles has an output of up to 201bhp with a maximum torque rating of 310Nm. The two component plants at Kassel and Tianjin are working closely together on the industrialisation process for the new product.

At present, the technical capacity installed at both sites corresponds to up to 880,000 electric drives per year. Production is to be expanded by up to 1.4 million electric drives as early as 2023. This would make Volkswagen Group Components one of the largest producers of electric drives in the world.