Volkswagen says that it has managed to cut the total lifetime carbon footprint of its popular ID.4 electric SUV to the point where after just 66,000km, it becomes fully carbon neutral.
Enough for 800,000 households
That’s thanks to VW’s support since 2021 for green and renewable energy projects across Europe. These projects fed 1.1 terawatts/hours of carbon-free energy into the European grid in 2024 and 3.0 terawatt/hours in total since 2021.
That 3.0 terawatt/hour figure is, says VW, the equivalent power needed to power 800,000 households for a year. “We plan to step up our commitment in the field of renewable energies each year in line with the development in sales of ID. models,” says Andreas Walingen, CSO and Head of Strategy of the Volkswagen Passenger Cars brand. “Through the large-scale development of European wind and solar farms, we intend to support our customers in the region in their efforts to always use their ID. vehicles in a net carbon-neutral way. This shows that our commitment to sustainability goes far beyond the electrification of vehicles.”
Wind and solar
The projects supported by VW include a solar park in the north of Portugal near Vila Real with over 60 gigawatt/hours per year and a wind farm in Djupdal, Sweden, which is 70 per cent supported by Volkswagen and produces more than 1,000 gigawatt/hours of electricity per year, are among the larger green electricity projects supported by the car manufacturer. The company is pushing forward the development of renewable energies throughout Europe. Currently, Volkswagen is supporting 18 photovoltaic plants and eight wind farms in Spain, Sweden, Finland, Portugal, the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Poland. Support is provided over the long term, normally for a period of ten years, with Energy Attribute Certificates confirming the origin of the renewable energy produced.
Lifetime emissions
Clearly, renewable energy doesn’t yet power everything — whether we’re talking car factories or EV charging points — and so the carbon footprint of an ID.4 running on the normal ‘grey’ European electricity mix isn’t balanced out until it’s covered some 97,000km. With an expected lifetime of 200,000km, that still means that each ID.4 should be in ‘carbon credit’ by the time it’s taken off the road.
Running on the ‘green’ energy mix, that figure can be trimmed to just 66,000km, said VW, according to figures from a study by the Fraunhofer Institute.
Over that 200,000km lifecycle, according to the German TUV Nord organisation (Germany’s equivalent of the Institute of Mechanical Engineers), an ID.4 Pro model, running on the ‘grey’ power grid mix, has total lifetime CO2 emissions some 25 per cent lower than those of an equivalent diesel-engined model. Switch to the ‘green’ energy mix and that becomes a 50 per cent CO2 reduction.