VW set to unveil EV with 300-mile range next month

VW is reportedly preparing to debut a 300-mile electric vehicle at the Paris Motor Show next month, according to a recent report in a German publication which quotes VW CEO Herbert Diess as stating that the new model is capable of travelling between 240 to 370 miles on a single charge. For reference, the longest current range for the Tesla Model S is 270 miles, according to EPA standards, although the Model S may soon get an upgrade that will increase its range to 380 miles. The 300 mile range has long been seen as something of a holy grail for electric vehicles in terms of abolishing range anxiety for buyers. This comes as VW recently announced that electric vehicles will play an important role in its recovery from the recent “Dieselgate” scandal.

As part of its new plan to build 2 to 3 million all-electric cars a year and unveil 30 new models by 2025, Volkswagen announced that they plan to debut one of these 30 new electric car models at the Paris Motor show next month.

VW CEO Hebert Diess confirmed the news in an interview with German magazine Wirtschafts Woche.

He said that the vehicle will achieve a range of 400 to 600 km (248 to 372 miles), but he could have been referring to the New European Driving Cycle (NEDC), which is much more forgiving than the EPA rating and doesn’t really reflect real-world range, but a range of ~300 miles sounds likely.

He added that the vehicle will be about the size of a VW Golf, but with the cargo space of a Passat.

The prototype to be unveiled in Paris will be close to what will go in production, which is aimed at 2018-2019 according to Diess.

Interestingly, Diess also mentioned that in order for VW to produce millions of electric car per year, it will have to bring battery production in-house or at least have battery production in Germany.

VW has been rumoured to be planning a ‘multi-billion euro battery factory’.