Volkswagen (VW) is temporarily reducing the production of electric cars at its factory in Emden, Germany. The assembly of the ID.4 and ID.7 electric models has been suspended since yesterday and is expected to continue until Monday due to a shortage of electric motors, similar to the situation at the Zwickau plant.
Production line 2 in Zwickau has also been affected, with production paused due to insufficient drive system deliveries. The assembly line is expected to remain idle until 1 December, impacting more than 1,000 of the total of around 8,000 employees at the plant. The ID.4 and ID.5 from VW, as well as Audi’s Q4 e-tron and Q4 Sportback e-tron, are built on production line 2.
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In Emden, the production break is expected to last only five days, including the weekend. A plant spokesperson told the news agency dpa about the temporary halt in production.
The bottleneck in production is due to the replacement of the 150 kW PSM electric motor on the rear axle with the new APP550, which offers 210 kW of power and 550 Nm of maximum torque, compared to the previous 310 Nm. The new electric motor is also more efficient, increasing the range of the vehicles.
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Disruptions in the supply chain during the production of the APP550 at the VW components plant in Kassel have resulted in fewer drive units being delivered than originally planned. To prioritize the ramp-up of production of the new VW ID.7 in Emden, the few available APP550s will be delivered there. However, production cannot continue without a break in Lower Saxony.
Production line 1 in Zwickau, where the VW ID.3 and Cupra Born are produced, is not currently affected. The familiar electric motor with 150 kW output and 310 Nm torque is still being installed in these models, with no disruption in the supply chain for this unit.
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Volkswagen had previously halted electric car production in Zwickau on production line 1 for around two weeks in October due to weak demand. Production of the two models has since resumed in three shifts.
