Volkswagen and the Toshiba Corporation have today signed a letter of intent with the objective to develop electric drive units and the accompanying power electronics for Volkswagen’s planned New Small Family range of Electric Vehicles.

Furthermore, Volkswagen and Toshiba are planning the development of battery systems with a high specific energy density for future generations of electric vehicles.

The chairman of the board of management at Volkswagen, Prof. Dr Martin Winterkorn, emphasised “Volkswagen is forging ahead with the development of future drive technologies in many different areas. In order to further strengthen our position, Volkswagen is investing in the long term and is offering cooperation projects to other companies. One of the important components in this context is the cooperation with Toshiba. I am convinced that this will be a major step forward towards the development of series production electric vehicles for our customers.”

Volkswagen’s objective is to be the first manufacturer to provide an emissions-free, affordable and safe large-scale production electric vehicle.

“A considerable amount of research and development work still has to be carried out until we can produce the electric vehicle, in the field of lithium-ion battery technology in particular and this is an area in which the Volkswagen Group is working with further potential technological partners alongside Toshiba”, stated Prof. Dr Winterkorn.

The letter of intent was signed by Prof. Dr Winterkorn and Atsutoshi Nishida, president and chief executive officer of the Toshiba Corporation.

“We look forward to building up a mutually beneficial partnership with Volkswagen, a clear leader in the automotive industry making strong initiatives in the development of environmentally-friendly cars,” Nishida said. “The combined know-how of the two international technology groups Volkswagen and Toshiba will be an important step towards the drive technologies of tomorrow.”