BERLIN -- Volkswagen will decide by the end of the year on the location for a new plant for its future electric model Trinity along the lines of Tesla's gigafactories, according to a report in Automotive News Europe sister publication Automobilwoche.
Various locations in Lower Saxony, Germany, near VW's Wolfsburg headquarters are currently being examined for the plant.
If production of the Trinity is to start in 2026, as agreed to by VW's supervisory board, construction should be scheduled to begin in spring 2023 at the latest.
"We will need no longer than three years to build the Trinity plant," Vollmer said in a December interview with German business publication Wirtschaftswoche.
According to current plans, the factory is likely to be built near the main VW plant, perhaps also on a larger area directly attached to it.
According to information in the Wolfsburger Allgemeine Zeitung, a contract for the Wolfsburg district of Warmenau could also be possible. This area lies to the north of the Group headquarters site.
Among others, the district of Gifhorn had also expressed interest. However, many building and environmental issues must be clarified before the project can get underway.
The main Wolfsburg plant will initially be opened up for possible other electric and internal combustion cars in addition to the Golf or Tiguan and will be fundamentally retooled at a later date.
The aim is to build a single-story plant for Trinity because that is the most efficient solution, Vollmer said. However, if the area is too small, a two-story construction can be used in some areas.
The plant could even use drones to transport parts, Vollmer said, and VW is considering having vehicles drive autonomously through the plant while it is still in production.
"I think it's very realistic that the Trinity vehicles are already on the road autonomously in the factory, for example, to drive to parking locations or to do test drives for quality assurance," Vollmer said at the time.
The production version of the Trinity concept will use VW's new SSP architecture that allows for Level 4 autonomous driving and new battery cell technology.
