
It’s been a bit over 4 years since Volkswagen introduced SSP, its all-encompassing electrical car structure. The Scalable Methods Platform was initially anticipated to be prepared by now, nevertheless it has been delayed till later this decade. A number of reviews from German media attributed the setback to VW’s software program division, Cariad. Nonetheless, the automotive conglomerate is now prepared to debate SSP, and there’s a shock.
Though SSP is primarily an electrical platform, it can additionally help combustion engines. VW Group plans to introduce vary extenders, with inside combustion engines functioning solely as turbines to cost the battery. Just like the BMW i3, Mazda’s rotary MX-30, and the upcoming Ramcharger, these engines received’t have a mechanical hyperlink to the wheels. Nissan’s e-Energy expertise follows an identical precept: the gasoline engine powers the battery, not the drivetrain.
Photograph by: Volkswagen
Volkswagen had already indicated its curiosity in vary extenders. Its newly established Scout model will launch a pickup and an SUV outfitted with naturally aspirated ICE generators. In China, the not too long ago unveiled ID. Era concept previews a three-row SUV developed with SAIC, additionally that includes a gasoline-powered generator.
SSP is a significant initiative for VW. It’s going to function the muse for fashions throughout all its manufacturers and can ultimately change all present electrical platforms. A teaser picture exhibits 5 completely different physique kinds, starting from a metropolis hatchback to a big SUV. Automotive News reviews that there shall be eight derivatives in complete, overlaying each section of the market. Subsequent-generation EVs primarily based on SSP are anticipated to start rolling out in 2026, seemingly debuting in China earlier than arriving in Europe a 12 months later.
We could not see this expertise in Europe, the place VW CEO Thomas Schäfer believes plug-in hybrids are the extra viable possibility. He instructed Autocar that vary extenders are costly to engineer, whereas right now’s plug-in hybrids already supply first rate electrical vary and quick charging. In keeping with Schäfer, providing each options wouldn’t be economically possible.
Photograph by: Volkswagen
Probably the most important fashions to make use of the SSP platform would be the ninth-generation, electric-only Golf. It’s scheduled to reach close to the top of the last decade and can coexist with the combustion-engine Mk8 for a number of years. VW could preserve the current Golf on sale until the mid-2030s. The electrical Golf shall be inbuilt Wolfsburg, whereas manufacturing of the ICE mannequin will transfer to the Puebla plant in Mexico in 2027.
With SSP’s key specs now finalized, VW Group CEO Oliver Blume acknowledged: “We goal to be the worldwide expertise driver for the automotive trade. SSP will play a vital position on this. We have reached an necessary milestone in creating our electrical future platform. Now it is full steam forward to implementation.”