On February 23, Volkswagen Anhui announced the completion of construction in a new body shop at its MEB plant. The first milestone of the Year of the Tiger in the Lunar Calendar marks another step towards the establishment of the Group's global electric mobility center in Anhui. Installation of the equipment in the body shop will begin in March. At the same time, the MEB plant will be completed in mid-2022, and the first new energy model will be mass-produced in the second half of 2023.
Dr. Ge Wandi, CEO of Volkswagen Anhui, said: "Volkswagen Anhui is an important part of the Group's electrification strategy and will inject strong impetus into the realization of a purely electric, fully connected future mobility blueprint. We are rapidly promoting the construction of the MEB factory, continuously improving our research and development capabilities, actively expanding the industrial value chain, and widely absorbing talents. Thanks to the tireless efforts of the project team and all parties, we completed the construction of the body shop in only six months, which is a result that makes me very proud. ”
Mr. Schneider, Chief Manufacturing Officer of Volkswagen Anhui, said: "We sincerely thank our partners for their long-term support and close collaboration, enabling Volkswagen Anhui to build a world-class factory workshop at a record 'Anhui speed'. We look forward to celebrating more milestones in the construction of the MEB plant in the coming months." ”
Volkswagen's Anhui MEB plant officially started construction in April 2021 and more than 70% of the construction has been completed. During the construction process, about 40,000 trucks were deployed and about 720,000 cubic meters of earth were transferred during the land leveling work alone. The new body shop was built using a total of about 16,000 tons of steel and 56,000 cubic meters of concrete, and the ground bearing capacity of the plant was 5 tons per square meter.
Volkswagen Anhui MEB factory covers an area of about 500,000 square meters, of which the body workshop covers an area of 140,000 square meters, and the factory area also covers the assembly workshop, spraying workshop and other facilities. In addition, together with the battery and parts supplier park under construction, the total area of the project is 930,000 square meters. The entire MEB plant will be fully completed in mid-2022, and the first pre-production vehicle for the new energy model is expected to roll off the production line in the second half of 2022 and start mass production in the second half of 2023. The plant's maximum annual production capacity is expected to reach 350,000 new energy vehicles.
As the first Volkswagen Group joint venture in China to focus on new energy vehicles, Volkswagen Anhui will play an important role in promoting the Group's decarbonization strategy. The new plant will use green energy for production from the start of production and reduce overall carbon emissions through a series of energy-saving measures.
Volkswagen Anhui brings together R&D, quality assurance, pre-production and testing departments to help the high-quality development of the mobility industry in the future with the Group's best practice experience and strict standards.