VW’s appearance at the IAA is dominated by its upcoming family of compact electric cars. However, the trade fair mainly offered a glimpse of the design of the four electric cars and provided little information about the technology. Gradually, however, new, as yet unconfirmed information is coming to light.
Volkswagen has also released some new information, but not much. The Wolfsburg-based company does not want to reveal the technical details until the world premieres of the four models next year, starting with the Cupra Raval, which is expected to be presented in March 2026. The ID. Polo will follow in May, then the ID. Cross and the Skoda Epiq in the summer. The 166 kW power drive, which is to be offered in the ID. Polo GTI and the Raval VZ, for example, has long been mentioned. For the ID. Cross, VW announced a power output of 155 kW and estimated range figures at the trade fair. However, the company has not provided any details about the battery.
At the show, however, the German edition of InsideEVs claims to have obtained further information about the drive system of the four small electric cars. VW itself only mentioned that the models are based on the MEB+ with front-wheel drive, i.e. the modified version of the well-known electric modular platform. Until now, the MEB+ had been expected to be used for models with rear-wheel and all-wheel drive, while a further development called MEB Small or MEB Entry was under discussion for small cars. Now, however, these models are also running under the MEB+ label.
The front-wheel drive models feature a newly developed electric motor, which, according to the report, is called APP290. Similar to the APP310 and APP550 rear motors, the torque is likely to be around 290 Nm, at least according to the naming logic used so far. The APP290 is said to be a permanent magnet synchronous motor (PSM), so it has the same operating principle as the rear motors. The motors on the front axle, which have been used in the all-wheel drive variants of the MEB to date, are asynchronous motors. However, VW is sticking with PSM for the main drive, which is installed at the front of the small cars.
According to InsideEVs, the direct current from the battery will be supplied by “a silicon carbide inverter developed by VW itself.” SiC semiconductors are considered a promising technology because they are simply more efficient than semiconductors based on pure silicon. This means that more of the stored electricity is used for propulsion, and the cooling system can be smaller because less waste heat is generated, which in turn saves weight and energy. However, SiC semiconductors are more expensive, which is why they have mainly been used in higher-priced cars til now. The fact that VW is bringing this technology to its £25,000 small cars is a big step. However, the APP290 is said to have simpler water jacket cooling, while one feature of the APP550 is the more complex water-oil cooling.
The report also contains two important figures relating to the battery, which had already become apparent in recent days: the larger battery, which is said to provide a range of up to 450 kilometres in the small car and 420 to 425 kilometres in the SUV, is specified as 56 kWh – up to 58 kWh had been mooted. Cells with nickel, manganese and cobalt are used on the cathode to achieve the necessary energy density. However, the £25,000 versions will have an LFP battery. According to InsideEVs, this is expected to have an energy content of 38 kWh – a figure that has been speculated about frequently.
Another important innovation that will distinguish the MEB+ models (including the larger ones with rear-wheel and all-wheel drive) from the previous MEB electric cars is the design of the battery. On the one hand, it uses the standard cell (you can read more about the current status here), which will no longer require modules in the future. In line with the cell-to-pack (CtP) approach, the cells are installed directly in the battery pack. At a technology event in Munich on the sidelines of the IAA, VW published diagrams showing the differences between the previous module design and the new CtP battery. There will be two versions of the new battery: in the variant for the four small electric cars, the cells are arranged in three rows or stacks in the battery pack, while in the variant for models from the ID.3 onwards with rear-wheel and all-wheel drive, there are four stacks. In the future, the cooling plate will be placed above the cells in the pack, meaning that the battery will be cooled from above.
This decision apparently has to do with an important safety feature: the pressure relief valves of the standard cell are now located at the bottom, which means that in the event of thermal runaway of the battery, the hot gases can be diverted downwards, under the vehicle, and thus away from the interior. This means that the cooling plate, which is now located at the top, must not be in the way. To make room for cooling, the electrical contacts are located on the narrow sides of the prismatic cells, rather than on top, as is usually the case.
From the customer’s point of view, safety is often taken for granted and is rarely a decisive factor in the purchase decision. Charging performance in electric cars, on the other hand, is. The charging time from 10 to 80 per cent is expected to be 25 minutes for both batteries – the 38 kWh LFP variant and the 56 kWh NMC version. For the smaller battery, this would mean an average charging power of 64 kW in this range (26.6 kWh in 25 minutes), and for the larger battery, an average of 94 kW (39.2 kWh in 25 minutes). The peak power in the lower range is likely to be significantly higher in each case.
insideevs.de (in German)
This article was first published by Sebastian Schaal for electrive’s German edition.
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