As a pioneer, Volkswagen supported the large-scale expansion of renewable energies in Europe at an early stage. Currently, the automaker is engaged in a total of 26 green power projects in nine European countries. The company has now drawn a positive interim balance. Since 2021, the green power projects supported have fed a total of about three terawatt-hours (TWh) of electricity to the European power grid. This figure corresponds to the annual energy demand of about 800,000 households. Through these efforts, Volkswagen is making a key contribution to decarbonization. An ID.4 powered solely using the EU green electricity grid mix already has a lower CO2 footprint than a comparable diesel model after about 66,000 km. This is the result of a life cycle analysis*.
“We plan to step up our commitment in the field of renewable energies each year in line with the development in sales of ID. models,” says Andreas Walingen, CSO and Head of Strategy of the Volkswagen Passenger Cars brand. “Through the large-scale development of European wind and solar farms, we intend to support our customers in the region in their efforts to always use their ID. vehicles in a net carbon-neutral way. This shows that our commitment to sustainability goes far beyond the electrification of vehicles.”
A solar park in the north of Portugal near Vila Real with over 60 GWh per year and a wind farm in Djupdal, Sweden, which is supported by Volkswagen with a 70% share and produces more than 1,000 GWh of electricity per year, are among the larger green electricity projects supported by the car manufacturer. The company is pushing forward the development of renewable energies throughout Europe. Currently, Volkswagen is supporting 18 photovoltaic plants and eight wind farms in Spain, Sweden, Finland, Portugal, the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Poland. Support is provided over the long term, normally for a period of 10 years. Energy Attribute Certificates confirming the origin of the renewable energy are acquired through these projects.
In 2024 alone, the projects generated a total of about 1.1 TWh of green power, corresponding to the annual demand of about 300,000 households or the calculated electricity demand of the Volkswagen ID. fleet on European roads currently not covered by renewable power. Green power is not yet available everywhere on the road. A study∗∗ indicates that the share of “grey” electricity currently used for charging is about 40 percent. Through the green power projects, Volkswagen is shifting this share to carbon-neutral over a period of 10 years, assuming that each vehicle travels 200,000 km. By doing so, the ID. vehicles can therefore reach their full potential for the decarbonization of mobility. Decarbonization, with the transformation to e-mobility, is firmly anchored as one of the three main pillars of the Volkswagen sustainability strategy.
Green power considerably reduces the carbon footprint of the ID. models
Drivers of an ID. model can directly influence the carbon balance of their electric car by choosing the type of power to use for charging in the use phase. This is one of the results of the life cycle analyses* conducted by Volkswagen. These analyses determine the CO2 savings potential of a vehicle over its entire life cycle from raw material extraction through production and use to dismantling for recycling.
The consistent use of green power for charging has a considerable positive effect in leveraging e-mobility. This is confirmed, for example, by the life cycle analysis for the ID.4 Pro reviewed by TÜV NORD CERT Prüf- und Umweltgutachtergesellschaft mbH*. The life cycle analysis compares the footprint of the vehicle over a total mileage of 200,000 kilometers with a comparable diesel model. In this comparison, the ID.4 Pro causes about 25 percent lower CO2 emissions over its life cycle than the diesel model. If the ID.4 Pro is consistently charged using the EU green electricity grid mix, emissions are even about 50 percent lower. The initially higher CO2 emissions during the production phase of an electric vehicle are counteracted during the use phase. This effect can be further reinforced by consistently charging green power. Specifically, the comparison mentioned above indicates that an ID.4 Pro operated consistently using the EU green electricity grid mix has a lower carbon footprint after about 66,000 km at the latest. This point is reached at about 97,000 km with the conventional EU electricity grid mix.
Many possibilities of charging green power
On the road, Volkswagen customers have access to a pan-European charging network with more than 750,000 charging points, including the IONITY rapid charging network with more than 4,000 HPC charging points operated using renewable electricity.
Since May 2024, the Volkswagen Group brand Elli has also offered Volkswagen Naturstrom Flex, a renewable energy product. This new, dynamic energy tariff reflects hourly market price fluctuations and allows users to benefit from lower market prices when charging at home. In combination with the smart charging functions of the new Elli Charger, the charging expenses for an electric vehicle can be reduced by up to 40 percent. In July 2023, the Volkswagen Group and its Elli brand became the first German automotive company to start trading on Europe’s largest power exchange, EPEX Spot. This was the prerequisite for replacing rigid fixed-price tariffs by a market-price-oriented electricity tariff.
*/ 02Volkswagen AG commissioned TÜV NORD CERT Prüf- und Umweltgutachtergesellschaft mbH as an independent external body to carry out a critical review of its LCA study in accordance with the applicable standards DIN EN ISO 14040 and DIN EN ISO 14044. In accordance with the standard, the manufacturing phase from raw material extraction, the use phase comprising passenger transportation over 200,000 km in the WLTP driving cycle and dismantling for recycling (without battery system) were used as a framework. The environmental impacts were assessed via a special software including a database with average upstream chain values. With regard to the state of the art of LCAs, it should be noted that the calculation methods for LCAs in the automotive industry are subject to constant further development. Amongst other changes, generic data and assumptions are increasingly being replaced by vehicle- and company-specific data; future calculations may thus lead to significant deviations from previous LCA values. Therefore LCAs are to be understood as a status at the time of execution (snapshot of the respective assumptions), do not represent a guaranteed product property in a legal sense and are not suitable for comparisons with LCAs from other car manufacturers. Respective harmonizing EU standards are expected to be published in 2025. For selected parts like the battery cells, separate analyses are carried out by Volkswagen.. For further details of this LCA study, see the “Green Finance Report 2024“ at https://www.volkswagen-group.com/de/publikationen/weitere/green-finance-report-2024-englisch-2722
∗∗According to a 2023 study of the Fraunhofer Institute, renewable electricity already accounts for 61 percent of the power used for charging all-electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles, with power from non-renewable sources providing the remaining 39 percent.
SOURCE: Volkswagen
