SAIC-Volkswagen's new energy vehicle plant to start production in October with annual capacity of 300,000 vehicles-CnEVPost

The new energy vehicle plant of SAIC-Volkswagen, a joint venture between Volkswagen Group and SAIC Motor, in Shanghai is scheduled to go into production in October 2020 and is currently the largest and most efficient pure electric vehicle plant in China.

Located in Anting, Shanghai, the plant is the latest result of the deepening cooperation between SAIC and Volkswagen Group and is the world's first newly-built plant dedicated to the production of MEB platform models.

The new plant has a total investment of about 17 billion yuan and an annual production capacity of 300,000 vehicles.

The new plant is a modern benchmark plant that integrates intelligent manufacturing, energy conservation, and environmental protection. It adopts more than 1,400 industrial robots and applies advanced manufacturing technology on a large scale to realize the intelligence and digitalization of the whole manufacturing process and greatly improve the production efficiency.

It widely applies highly automated assembly and online automatic measurement technology to ensure stable and reliable product quality.

In terms of energy-saving and environmental protection, the plant adopts 27 new environmental protection and energy-saving technologies, achieving a 20% reduction in five key environmental indicators, including energy, water, carbon dioxide, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and waste.

Its stamping workshop covers an area of about 31,680 square meters and mainly produces 19 large internal and external cover parts for a single car model.

The workshop has two world-advanced Schuler servo high-speed press lines, and for the first time adopts a two-story stamping parts warehouse, using AGVs docked with elevators to achieve parts transport between the two warehouses.

The body shop has a 2-story structure, with the first floor mainly housing the door cover, floor plate 1, and the assembly line. The second floor mainly contains the side enclosures, base plate 2, final assembly, and reporting lines.

The design capacity of the body shop is 60JPH, i.e. 60 units of BIW per hour, with an annual output of 300,000 units.

The 120JPH paint shop is the world's first high-capacity paint shop for the Volkswagen Group, supplying both the MEB plant and the Anting Auto 3 plant. Compared to the traditional two 60JPH standard paint shops, it saves 12 percent of floor space.

Its final assembly plant is designed to have a production capacity of 60JPH and will have an annual production capacity of 300,000 when it reaches production. It is currently the final assembly workshop of Volkswagen Group with the highest automation rate of 26.2% for mass-produced models, with a higher degree of modularity and flexibility.

The battery workshop is SAIC-Volkswagen's first all-aluminum battery shell homemade and battery pack assembly workshop, with a planned annual production capacity of 300,000 units. The workshop has two floors.

For the first time in its history, SAIC-Volkswagen is manufacturing its own aluminum battery housing, and it is the only battery workshop that uses JIS (Just In Sequence) sequencing and the Volkswagen Group's first just-in-time production pull-out.