Volkswagen Confirms MEB+ Platform Coming Soon

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When  the Volkswagen ID 2 arrives next year, it will be built on the MEB+ platform. How is MEB+ different from MEB? Primarily because it will use LFP battery cells instead of NMC battery cells. The transition will allow the company to reduce the cost of the ID 2 while providing it with acceptable range. In addition to lower costs, the advantages of LFP chemistry include a higher tolerance for frequent charging to 100%, reduced risk of thermal runaway events (aka battery fires), and perhaps a better tolerance for charging and operating in cold temperatures.

According to Thomas Shäfer, the CEO of the Volkswagen brand, “The upgrade to MEB + comes next year, and we will roll out the cell-to-pack battery systems with LFP. That will be a major step forward in terms of cost for us. It’s very important, and also in performance. We’re very happy with that. It’s all in plan. We will come in with MEB + across the models, including ID 3, ID 4, ID 7.

“They will have LFP. You can see this move towards LFP across the board, really, except for performance applications on the upper end. In the volume game, LFP is the technology. It will start with ID 2 and then roll out through the models.”

A report by Felix Page for Autocar says the LFP batteries will be manufactured at the new Volkswagen Group battery factory in Salzgitter, Germany. That factory will also continue making NMC battery packs for other models in the Group’s portfolio of vehicles.

Cars built using the new MEB+ platform will also get significant design updates. In 2024, Kai Grunitz, who is the head of research and development for Volkswagen, said the new designs will be “huge improvements” that hark back to the roots of the company. Thomas Shäfer told Autocar, “Design is your first touch point. That’s what excites people. You have to have an iconic design that people connect with, and it doesn’t matter what kind of drivetrain is underneath. This fascination with ‘is it electric or petrol?’ doesn’t matter if you have an iconic car. You can see it in many examples.”

Platform Possibilities At Volkswagen

There has been a lot of backing and forthing at Volkswagen about which platforms will carry the company into the future. The original MEB platform was, in some respects, a rush job designed to meet the challenge presented by Tesla. Various brands within the Group, which is to say Audi and Porsche, have developed their own platforms and have been none to keen to adapt their cars to MEB, which they see as inferior.

The Porsche Taycan, for instance, is based on the J1 electric car platform, while the electric Macan and several Audi EVs are based on the PPE (Premium Platform Electric) developed jointly by Audi and Porsche. When Herbert Diess was the head of Volkswagen Group, he was a strong advocate for creating an all-new platform called SSP (Scalable Systems Platform) that would be all things to all divisions, but it is commonly believed by those outside the company that there has been pushback from Audi and Porsche about the SSP initiative.

How could a mighty Porsche be based on the same platform as the lowly ID 3? Harrumph. It is possible the dissension within the corporate ranks may have been one of the factors that convinced the Volkswagen board to toss Diess overboard.

According to Wikipedia, “SSP is intended to have a common platform with different modules. The modules will have a limited number of variants to reduce production complexity. This will allow the Volkswagen brands to create differentiated cars, whilst having a high degree of standardization. As well as a shared car platform, there will also be common battery, software, and autonomous driving systems. Reportedly Volkswagen will develop a variant for traditional cars under the code name Trinity, while Audi is creating the variant for SUVs under the code name Apollon.”

The SSP platform was first announced in 2021, but the latest word is that is will not arrive until 2029 at the earliest. Until it does, MEB+ will be called upon to underpin the company’s electric car offerings. Regular readers will note that Chinese automakers seem to develop new platforms and models in less than two years, which illustrates how difficult it is for traditional western car companies to compete with them.

A Monster Car!

Thomas Shäfer is telling anyone who will listen that there will be GTI battery-electric versions of all the company’s upcoming cars, although when that will be is unknown. We can speculate that performance versions will utilize NMC batteries, but that is really just a guess. The first will be a GTI version of the new ID 2, which may appear in 2026 sometime after the ID 2 goes into production. After that, he says the company will offer two electric performance versions — GTI and Golf R — of the iconic Golf, which is now in its ninth generation.

Schäfer said work on the electric GTI models is well underway and that they will be true to the characteristics of every GTI model that has gone before. The aim is for them to feel entirely different from the driver’s perspective than the regular production cars they will based on. “What about the sound? What about the total feel? The handling and so on can be done,” he told Autocar.

He also said an electric Golf is coming and there will be a GTI version of that car as well. “First of all: can you make an electric Golf exciting? Absolutely,” he told Autocar. “We have driven a few prototypes that we have built on the new set-up and it is mind-blowing.” But he is in no hurry. “We have time now, as the Golf is running very well into the end of this decade, and at the end of the decade, we’ll bring an electric Golf.”

He added that his time behind the wheel of prototypes suggests the next GTI will be “a monster car. I’m very happy with the progress. It’s cool and you can make it exciting. It has to be exciting and it has to be authentic.” Sadly, it won’t be here until the start of the next decade. People who follow the auto industry may have legitimate concerns about where the Chinese car companies will be in  five years and whether the new GTIs from Volkswagen will have any relevance by then.

Saying an electric Golf GTI will be a “monster car” may get headlines, but if it is five years away, a cautious observer might conclude it will arrive too late to keep Volkswagen relevant. The road to hell is paved with good intentions. Be sure to check back with us in 2030 to see if Thomas Shäfer’s crystal ball was accurate or badly in need of re-calibration.