As we look with interest at what Rivian is doing with its electric pickups, so is Volkswagen. And they’re looking because they want to see if an electric version of the Amarok could be possible.
Speaking to Autoblog, VW’s Thomas Ulbrich, head of electric mobility, said that the possibility of an electric pickup with a VW badge on it is increasingly possible.
“It’s a difficult discussion, to have an Amarok or a similar car using BEV technology,” Ulbrich told Autoblog. “We are looking at what Rivian is doing, because normally it is difficult to believe that a car like the Amarok, for example, could be electrified.“
Volkswagen seems less in less interested in making its own pickup at all. In fact, it’s trading the MEB platform for Ford’s small pickup knowhow. A deal the two titans inked in 2018 means that the rest of the world may get a VW version of the Ranger.
But VW is more interested in selling its electric technology than buying it. After all, it spent billions developing an EV-only chassis to underpin a range of electric vehicles.
Although it was skeptical at first, it sounds like the VW is being convinced that an electric pickup is possible.
“Our investigation and research makes us think [an electric pickup] becomes more possible,” said Ulbrich. “By making this technology more and more robust, an Amarok-type of car would be BEV.”
Volkswagen has so far shown us the upper and lower limits of the MEB platform. The ID. Buzz being the biggest the chassis can, while the ID.3 is the smallest. Ulbrich did reveal however that it will be modifying the chassis to make a smaller vehicle than the ID.3, likely to replace the e-Up!.
Whether or not the chassis can be modified to be used as a pickup remains to be seen. Despite the obvious issue of motor placement, VW’s insistence that the ID.Buzz can be used as a work van would seem to suggest that the platform is at least capable of whatever a small pickup would need of it.
Source: Read Full Article