SPECIAL REPORT: VEHICLE ELECTRIFICATION JANUARY 2021 Sponsored by SR Elektro Automatik Ad 0121.qxp 1/5/21 4:03 PM Page 1 CONTENTS FEATURES 22 E-motorcycle Project Pushes Battery Boundaries 2 Volkswagen Reveals its For Triumph’s TE-1 project, new materials and cell technologies target greater energy density “People’s” EV and overall performance. Williams Advanced VW’s ID.4 leads the 2021 stampede to Engineering’s CEO explains. electrification for the mass market. 7 2021 Mustang Mach-E Ford’s first dedicated electric platform reveals TECH REPORT the challenges and opportunities in developing a state-of-the-art EV. 24 New SAE wireless charging standard is EV game-changer 12 FEV and the Art of EV Testing 26 Cadillac reveals Lyriq electric vehicle The legendary powertrain engineering group has expanded its global footprint into EV 27 SAE project to develop cyber-secure testing and development to keep pace with EV charging changing technologies and customer demand. 29 Mahle amps up electrification R&D, 16 Static Testing of EV Components battery-cooling capability Firing nails into your latest Li-ion battery pack is but one of many regimens in the comprehensive testing of new electric vehicles. 18 Tracking the Battery Market ON THE COVER Battleground The Mustang Mach-E is Ford’s Production scale, yield, and new cell first dedicated battery electric technologies are challenging EV battery cell vehicle (BEV) and is built on an all-new electric vehicle (EV) suppliers, explains an expert at IHS Markit. platform. Learn more about the Mach-E in the feature article beginning on page 7. (Image courtesy of Ford) VEHICLE ELECTRIFICATION SPECIAL REPORT JANUARY 2021 1 Volkswagen reveals its “PEOPLE’S” EV VW’s ID.4 leads the 2021 stampede to electrification for the mass market. At a starting price of $39,995, Volkswagen intends the 2021 ID.4 to be at the by Bill Visnic vanguard of affordable long-range electric vehicles. he parallels between Volkswagen’s 2021 ID.4 It may not be the racing grandeur of “Ford vs. Ferrari” but the electric vehicle (EV) and the brand’s icon, the early rounds of the affordable-EV tussle could shape us as Ford vs. Beetle, are unmistakable — particularly the Volkswagen (even though the two companies are tied in an ever- Trear-mounted powerplant driving the rear widening EV and automated-driving global alliance). VW said it is wheels. Some believe there’s a certain cosmic appro- investing 11 billion euros in e-mobility by 2024 and will produce 1.5 million priateness at work. The Beetle introduced America to “e-cars” by 2025. ID.4 is expected to account for one-third of that total. a unique European concept of mobility for all. At a To answer, Ford in September confirmed it was cutting the starting price of $39,995, the ID.4, VW’s first dedi- initially announced price of the Mach-E by $1,000 to $3,000, cated EV for the U.S., may be one of the first models depending on model, meaning a rear-wheel-drive Mach-E starts at to make the EV an option for middle Americans. $42,895 — $2,900 more than the RWD base model of VW’s ID.4 (all There have been affordable EV predecessors but until prices before the federal $7,500 tax incentive or state rebates and now, they were either electrified versions of conventional before delivery charges). The Mach-E also was scheduled to start models or comparatively short-range efforts such customer deliveries in late 2020, getting a small headstart on the as Nissan’s Leaf. These were compromised vehicles ID.4, which is slated for VW’s U.S. showrooms in first-quarter 2021. and a wide-open-spaces America never was going to “Price is absolutely a really important factor,” asserted Matt accept small EVs with small battery capacity and small Renna, VP of e-mobility for Volkswagen of America, in an driving ranges. The ID.4 is VW’s Beetle for a new era. interview with Automotive Engineering. But it’s not the only It leads a surge of EVs such as Ford’s Mustang Mach-E metric crucial to mainstream success: “It’s price, space, and ready for showrooms and aggressively priced to tempt range,” he added. Renna drove the company’s battery-electric mainstream buyers. “Everyman” EVs are finally here. e-Golf as personal transportation for more than five years and VOLKSWAGEN NEF; VWOA BLOOMBERG VOLKSWAGEN; LEFT: FROM TOP CLOCKWISE 2 JANUARY 2021 VEHICLE ELECTRIFICATION SPECIAL REPORT Battery and base rear-drive layout for the 2021 ID.4. Lithium-ion battery cost projection real projected $1,000 per kWh 800 600 400 200 $61 $156 0 2010 ’12 ’14 ’16 ’18 ’20 ’22 ’24 ’26 ’28 2030 Source: Bloomberg NEF Tumbling cost for lithium-ion batteries is accelerating the advent of long-range EVs. Initial ID.4 models will be imported from VW’s Zwickau assembly plant in Mosel, Germany. Starting Cutaway of VW Group lithium-ion battery pack. in 2022, U.S. ID.4 production will be sourced from the company’s assembly plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee and the plant will build a “localized is confident U.S. consumers will respond to a 250-mile (402- version” of the ID.4 priced from around $35,000. km) EV with an SUV-type body style that pencils out at well less than $40,000 after tax rebates. “I’m pretty experienced in EVs Detailing price, space, and range and if I felt the e-Golf was a good customer value proposition, Some EV number-crunchers already are I think that ID.4 is a great customer value proposition.” questioning whether driving ranges of much less Meanwhile, corporate valuations for industry heavyweight than 300 miles (483 km) will suit American demands Tesla and many hopeful EV startups have skyrocketed as cost but Renna said the economics of current battery concerns abate. Bloomberg NEF, in its Electric Vehicle Outlook technology dictate that EVs without a premium 2020 report, summarized: “Price parity between EVs and internal badge to justify higher pricing are subject to an combustion vehicles is reached by the mid-2020s in most inescapable cost calculation. “Range is just highly VOLKSWAGEN NEF; VWOA BLOOMBERG VOLKSWAGEN; LEFT: FROM TOP CLOCKWISE segments but there is a wide variation between geographies.” correlated with material cost — and therefore the VEHICLE ELECTRIFICATION SPECIAL REPORT JANUARY 2021 3 Volkswagen reveals its “PEOPLE’S” EV Traction motors for Volkswagen’s battery-electric ID-family EVs are designed and manufactured in-house. Major components come from various manufacturing sites in the VW Group Components division. “We’re the masters at VW, the masters at this platform strategy,” Renna asserted. “We understand which parts are efficient to carry price of the car. We fight for efficiency; we fight over car-to-car. And that can span a very wide range of vehicle sizes for not only cost efficiency of the battery but and which parts need to be invested for separately. When you look energy efficiency of the drivetrain. Those both go at the MEB platform, being able to scale from an ID.3, all the way up in part to develop that cost and range equation.” to an ID Buzz, I think, demonstrates the scalability of the platform.” Battery costs are on a steady downward trajectory By 2029, VW projects that 20 million vehicles will be built on MEB. (see chart), a major factor in the coming explosion Renna added that MEB also has its own advantages for crucial of EV choice, particularly for SUV and truck body dimensional aspects such as width and dash-to-axle ratios. “People styles. According to Cox Automotive, there will get focused on width, because of axles and tire loads, a lot of things be 18 non-luxury EV trucks or SUVs available by to do with the chassis components, and that’s consistent. But we 2023. The heavy consumer shift in the U.S. to call [MEB] a single platform; we designate within the platform our SUVs and pickups is what inspired VW to give its platform variants. With those platform variants, you can change axle first EV for the U.S. a compact SUV configuration. programs and width appropriately to manage those attributes.” Interior room was crucial for customer appeal. Such considerations are what makes EV platform strategy “There are a lot of more-compact SUVs in the “maybe a little bit different from ICE,” he continued, “because the market, which are more energy efficient because cross-structure is quite a bit different. You don’t have the engine they take up less space and aerodynamic area,” in front of you, which gives you a lot more flexibility, overhangs Renna said. “And they’re lighter. But we felt they’re and that axle-to-dash distance. Whereas in an internal combustion less usable. We also make those [sub-compact vehicle, a lot of your crash load is going through the front engine SUVs], like the ID.3 in Europe. But the sweet spot compartment. You’ve got to design the car very differently.” for the U.S. market seems to be the compact SUV and we wanted something that delivered the Compact dimensions, conventional construction same utility as the sweet spot of the market.” In terms of its overall size, ID.4 sits in the middle of the Volkswagen has made much of its investment in the compact SUV segment. At 180.5 in (4,585 mm) overall, it ID.4’s modular MEB dedicated-EV architecture and its is 4.6 in (117 mm) shorter overall than VW’s Tiguan, while flexibility.