VW weighs second EV platform

Volkswagen is examining whether its modular architecture for electric cars under development, dubbed MEB, is flexible enough for a top-of-the-line Phaeton, or whether a second groupwide platform is needed.

When VW said in October that it was developing the MEB, it described it as a system for compact cars and light commercial vehicles with an all-electric range of 155 to 310 miles. A long-wheelbase Phaeton, however, is about three feet longer than the Golf.

While production of the original Phaeton ended in March after more than 14 years on the market, a new one expected to debut around 2020 will operate entirely on electricity.

In fact, the MEB, which should be finished by 2019, is far more scalable, company officials say. Purpose-designed electric vehicle platforms allow for more flexibility in those parameters that tend to be otherwise fairly rigid, such as the wheelbase, track width and seating position.

Engineers liken the floor-mounted battery to a tablet of chocolate with identically portioned bite-size pieces. Depending on vehicle size and electric range, the pieces can be added or subtracted incrementally to accommodate the length or width of the vehicle. The major limiting factor is the optimal distribution of weight across both axles to ensure a responsive chassis. 

"A 'chocolate battery' is super easy to build and industrialize on a high scale," said Volkmar Tanneberger, head of electronics development for the VW brand. 

The MEB will be able to handle everything from a small Polo to a Passat-sized car, models that make up the overwhelming bulk of VW's volume. 

"We're examining right now whether it can go all the way to a C-segment" between Passat and Phaeton, Tanneberger said. "It could be in the end that we have more than one electric-car architecture in the group -- that there is a second alongside the MEB." 

The next two VW Group electric vehicles, Porsche's Mission E and the Audi e-tron quattro, however, were both announced before the group's decision to develop the MEB. As such each is being built on its own platform. Only the BUDD-e concept shown at this year's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas has been built off a forerunner of the MEB. 

One VW official said, however, that electric cars no longer need to be as large as their combustion-powered siblings. 

"Remember that by removing the center tunnel you can increase the roominess of the interior without changing the dimensions of the car," said the official. "So it's possible to build a D-segment luxury car like the Phaeton in a C-segment size.