- Ford will develop another electric vehicle based on the MEB platform.
- Over the lifecycle, the volume of MEBs will be doubled to 1.2 million units.
- The next step in Ford’s strategic alliance is on commercial vehicles, electrification, and autonomous driving.
Ford Motor Company and the Volkswagen Group are expanding their collaboration in e-mobility. Ford intends to build another electric vehicle for the European market on the MEB platform. In addition, over a six-year period, the automaker plans to double its MEB volume to 1.2 million units.
What is the MEB Platform?
The Volkswagen Group Modular electric drive matrix (MEB) platform is an electric vehicle modular car platform developed by the Volkswagen Group and its subsidiaries. It is found in Audi, SEAT, Skoda, and Volkswagen models. The future I.D. family models are currently being developed on the basis of the new MEB. These are Volkswagens in various classes that have been designed as fully electric vehicles with ranges of up to 500 kilometres or more.
Ford and Volkswagen join Hands
The agreement was signed as part of Volkswagen and Ford’s strategic alliance, which includes e-mobility, commercial vehicles, and autonomous driving. The MEB (Modular Electric Toolkit), designed as an open vehicle platform, enables automakers to electrify their portfolio quickly and affordably.
The first Ford model to use the MEB will be an all-electric crossover. It is expected to roll off the assembly line at the Ford Electrification Center in Cologne in 2023, adding to the automaker’s e-mobility strategy. Ford had originally planned just one MEB-based model with a total production volume of around 600000 units. The company has not yet released any information about the second planned model.
The MEB provides a high level of competitiveness while allowing for significant design and model development freedom. It spans a wide range of vehicle segments and vehicle types, from compact cars to SUVs and vans. The Volkswagen ID. Buzz, which made its world debut last week, is the most recent model based on the MEB.
The MEB also has a much lower cost base than other electric vehicles due to the use of economies of scale around the world. It is primarily produced at Volkswagen Group Components’ German facilities in Braunschweig, Kassel, and Salzgitter.
Volkswagen’s expansion of its collaboration with Ford will bring it one step closer to becoming a platform supplier for electric vehicles as an additional pillar to its core business. The MEB platform, which can be used by a variety of brands and manufacturers, already serves as the technological foundation for ten electric models from five different brands. It is one of the leading electric platforms in the world, capable of producing approximately 300,000 units by 2021.