VW Components opens new EV competence centre in Kassel

Volkswagen Group Components is expanding its plant in Kassel in central Germany, opening a new competence centre for power electronics there. It will bundle all areas relevant to the development of pulse inverters for e-drives. At the same time, the site is preparing to produce the new APP 550 electric drive.

“As a system provider for the electric powertrain, we are taking the central components into our own hands,” says Thomas Schmall, Member of the Board of Management for Technology and CEO of Volkswagen Group Components. “Kassel plays a key role in this as the Group-wide e-motor centre. […] We are transforming the Kassel site from Europe’s largest transmission plant to a centre for electric motors.”

To that end, VW Components would slowly change its portfolio for the site, producing more electric motors and e-components, such as pulse inverters. The group announced last month that it would develop its own pulse inverter and thermal management for electric drives. As with other components, VW developers have opted for a modular system. The first application will be in the MEB+.

The Kassel plant also produces the APP550, the performance-enhanced engine version of the MEB. It will power various electric models of the VW Group in the future. The engine has an output of 210 kW and a torque of up to 550 Nn. According to VW Components, pre-series production has been underway for about a year, and the rotor and the stator are also manufactured in-house. Series production is scheduled to start in May, and by the end of the year, around 1,500 units should roll off the production line every day.

According to VW, the manufacturer is preparing to exit the combustion engine business. For this reason, the production of exhaust systems at the Kassel site is to be discontinued “in the long term.” However, VW did not announce the exact date.

Volkswagen Group Components announced expansion plans for the Kassel site last spring, saying it would increase production lines and long-term manufacture only EVs. Instead, Kassel is to become the group-wide competence centre for electric drive systems – much like the carmaker’s Salzgitter plant is for battery cells.

volkswagen-newsroom.com (in German)