عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
Varieties

Volkswagen Launches First All-Electric Car

An employee holds a Volkswagen logo in a production line at the Volkswagen plant in Wolfsburg, Germany March 1, 2019. (Reuters)
An employee holds a Volkswagen logo in a production line at the Volkswagen plant in Wolfsburg, Germany March 1, 2019. (Reuters)
    Hanover, London - Asharq Al-Awsat
TT
20
TT

Volkswagen Launches First All-Electric Car

An employee holds a Volkswagen logo in a production line at the Volkswagen plant in Wolfsburg, Germany March 1, 2019. (Reuters)
An employee holds a Volkswagen logo in a production line at the Volkswagen plant in Wolfsburg, Germany March 1, 2019. (Reuters)

Giant German automaker Volkswagen has launched the production of its all-electric car ID.3, to be manufactured on a large scale.

The breakthrough at the Volkswagen plant in Zwickau came ahead of the Berlin auto summit that kicked off on Monday reported the German news agency.

The ID.3 will be the first model in a new series by Volkswagen to attract a wide audience and form the basis for other models of electric vehicles.

Overseas customers are expected to start buying the model in mid-2020.

German Chancellor Angela took part in the launch, along with CEO Herbert Diess.

The company plans to produce about 100,000 cars in Zwickau next year.

Like other automakers, the company is investing billions of euros in the transition from internal combustion engines to alternative engines. The company had hoped to present a more real and eco-friendly image following the 2015 diesel scandal.

"Volkswagen is on its way to producing cars for everyone without emissions. The company's goal is to become a global leader in the industry of electric vehicles with annual sales of up to one million electric vehicles by 2025," said Ralf Brandstätter, Volkswagen's chief operating officer from Wolfsburg.

Most Viewed

 
Varieties

Australia’s New South Wales Sweats through Heatwave, Faces ‘Extreme’ Bushfire Risk

A view of the Anzac Bridge and Sydney Tower Eye at sunrise in Sydney, Australia, March 14, 2025. (Reuters)
A view of the Anzac Bridge and Sydney Tower Eye at sunrise in Sydney, Australia, March 14, 2025. (Reuters)
TT
20
TT

Australia’s New South Wales Sweats through Heatwave, Faces ‘Extreme’ Bushfire Risk

A view of the Anzac Bridge and Sydney Tower Eye at sunrise in Sydney, Australia, March 14, 2025. (Reuters)
A view of the Anzac Bridge and Sydney Tower Eye at sunrise in Sydney, Australia, March 14, 2025. (Reuters)

Australia's New South Wales on Sunday sweated in a heat wave that raised the risk of bushfires and prompted authorities to issue a total fire ban for state capital Sydney.

New South Wales, coming to the end of a high-risk bushfire season that runs until the end of March, was a focus of a catastrophic 2019-2020 "Black Summer" of wildfires that destroyed an area the size of Turkey and killed 33 people.

On Sunday, the nation's weather forecaster said temperatures would be up to 12 degrees Celsius (21.6 degrees Fahrenheit) above average in some areas of the state, with temperatures in Sydney, Australia's most populous city, set to hit 37C (98.6F).

At Sydney Airport, the temperature was already 29.3C (84.7 F) at 9:30 a.m. local time, more than three degrees above the March mean maximum temperature, according to forecaster data.

Gusty winds, "hot conditions and low relative humidity will result in extreme fire danger over the greater Sydney region," the forecaster said on its website.

The state's Rural Fire Service said on X that a total fire ban was in place for large swaths of the state including Sydney due to the forecast of "hot, dry and windy conditions".

In neighboring Victoria state, a home was destroyed in a bushfire on the outskirts of Melbourne that was being battled by around 200 firefighters, Country Fire Authority official Bernard Barbetti told the Australian Broadcasting Corp on Sunday.

Climate change is causing extreme heat and fire weather to become more common in Australia, a bushfire-prone country of around 27 million, the country's science agency said last year.