Manufacturing electric vehicles in series production at volume has been achieved through investment, innovation and considerable hard work, but all this is just the start. Car makers are meeting the challenges of balancing the mix of ICE, hybrid and full electric vehicle (EV) production but the vehicle line-ups continue to change with greater frequency as the respective markets shrink and grow. 

In this edition Skoda outlines its strategy for increasing its line-up of electric vehicles and how this works within the framework of the VW Group. What is clear is that demand for EVs is surging in certain segments as revealed by Ford’s substantial increase in F-150 Lightning production. The change to an all-electric powertrain seems to have done nothing to diminish the appeal of the OEM’s best-selling ICE vehicle. Our feature offers some very interesting insights into how the Rouge Electric Vehicle Centre is being upgraded and expanded to meet higher volume production.

Some of the new electric vehicle producers (these are past the ‘start-up’ phase) are now getting serious about production with orders for vehicles now stacking up. We look at how they are approaching manufacturing in interviews with Volta Trucks and REE Automotive.

While the current EV platform line-ups settle down in the short-term, the OEMs are now fine-tuning their respective powertrain offerings. General Motors reveals more about its strategy and technology around its Ultium battery cells. Formats and chemistries are being adjusted according to vehicle segments as carmakers reconsider their approach to energy and power performance requirements, moving away from the ‘one-size-fits-all’ configuration. We have two features on this looking at creating optimised battery cell chemistries and configurations.

The world is a very different place to where it was a few years ago, with many new challenges. But it seems for the automotive industry, dealing with supply chain challenges, increasing costs and the huge change in the vehicle parc has become the new normal.

Editor Nick Holt nick.holt@ultimamedia.com

Assistant editor Peter Murphy peter.murphy@ultimamedia.com

Senior Content Producer Ahmo Saric ahmo.saric@ultimamedia.com

Contributors Mike Farish, Pascal Nagel

Senior digital media & UX executivee Andrew Randall - andrew.randall@ultimamedia.com

Head of commercial development Andrew Fallon andrew.fallon@ultimamedia.com

Senior designer Gemma Wood gemma.wood@ultimamedia.com
Graphic designer Dimeji Akinkuolie dimeji.akinkuolie@ultimamedia.com

CRM and data manager Alistair Hankey alistair.Hankey@ultimamedia.com

Circulation and database Justyna Wanczyk justyna.wanczyk@ ultimamedia.com

Head of finance Kanokkan Durrant kanokkan.durrant@ultimamedia.com

Commercial director Mark Buller mark.buller@ultimamedia.com

Head of product and marketing Neemish Ladwa neemish.ladwa@ultimamedia.com

Editor-in-chief Christopher Ludwig christopher.ludwig@ultimamedia.com

Managing director Moritz Warth moritz.warth@mi-connect.de

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