Volkswagen Group of America plan on making a total investment of $2 billion over the next 10 years in zero emission vehicle (ZEV) infrastructure, education and access activities. The program, dubbed Electrify America, is part of Volkswagen’s recent settlement in relation to use of “defeat devices” on its diesel passenger cars.
To begin with, Volkswagen will spend $800 million over the next decade in its California ZEV Investment Plan. This represents one of the largest commitments of its kind to date, with $200 million to be spent in each of four 2.5 year cycles. Details of the first cycle, which will run from Q1 2017 through Q2 2019, were released by the California Air Resources Board (CARB) on March 8.
The California ZEV Investment Plan is aimed at spurring the continued uptake of electric vehicles (EVs) by demonstrating that they are indeed a viable replacement for gasoline powered vehicles in California, today. It will involve four key activities (Figure 1):
- Community Charging (~$45M): Approximately $45 million will be used to install more than 350 community charging stations across Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Jose, San Diego and Sacramento. This will include a mix of Level 2, 50 kW and 150 kW chargers. Expect the first community charging station to go online in Q3 2017.
- Highway Fast Charging (~$75M): A further ~$75 million will fund a DC fast charger network along the most popular highways in California. Over 50 fast chargers will be built, with a focus on 150 kW and 320 kW DC outputs. This is substantial as most currently installed, non‐proprietary DC fast chargers provide only 25‐50 kW. Tesla Superchargers can provide up to 145 kW, for now. Each new fast charging station in California will have 5 outlets, on average. Californians can expect to plug in to the first highway fast charger by Q2 2018 (Figure 2).
- Building a Green City For ZEV Access (~$44M): Three potential Green City initiatives include: ZEV car‐sharing, a ZEV delivery fleet and a ZEV taxi fleet. The first 30‐month investment cycle will involve installation of appropriate infrastructure to support these initiatives. This will include ~50 EV chargers to support ZEV car‐sharing and another 26 DCFC chargers for the ZEV delivery fleet. Completion is expected by Q4 2019, at a cost of ~$11 million. The remaining ~$33M will be used in planning the launch of Green City initiatives (currently anticipated to be in Sacramento) along with the launch of services.
- Brand-Neutral Public Education Activities (~$20M): Multi-channel advertising, social media and educational programs will be employed to show that current ZEVs can meet most consumers’ needs, and that this will only improve as new EVs are released and more charging stations become available. Educational campaigns will promote the benefits of ZEVs (e.g. performance, acceleration, quietness, comfort) and address customer concerns regarding ownership, such as “range anxiety” and charger availability.
Around $16 million will cover running costs of the California program’s first cycle. Volkswagen will meet with CARB twice a year and also submit an annual progress report. Other promising ZEV initiatives such as hydrogen fueling stations, national ZEV car-sharing or ZEV ride-sharing services will be considered in the remaining three cycles.
Volkswagen will invest a further $1.2 billion over ten years outside of California, as part of its Electrify America program. This will be outlined in a National ZEV Investment Plan being submitted to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
Electrify America is a very ambitious undertaking by Volkswagen, one which should drive the continued adoption of EVs. If it goes to plan, it may help Volkswagen regain our trust after the diesel emissions cheating scandal.
Source/s: CARB.