China: Magna's JV Starts Production Of eDrives For Volkswagen's MEB

The company will supply 80 kW front drive units for the Volkswagen ID.4.

HASCO Magna eDrives: secondary eDrive for Volkswagen’s MEB platform (an 80 kW induction motor, a single-speed gearbox, and a high-voltage inverter)

Mark Kane

By: Mark Kane

Feb 1, 2022 at 8:25am ET

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Magna announced that its HASCO Magna Electric Drive Systems Co., Ltd. (HME) team in China has started high-volume serial production of secondary eDrive systems for Volkswagen's Modular Electric Drive Toolkit (MEB) platform.

Specifically, Magna produces eDrive units for the Volkswagen ID.4 electric crossover, but it actually could be used in other MEB models from the Volkswagen Group as well.

Magna's secondary eDrive is envisioned for the front axle. It integrates an induction motor (80 kW), a single-speed gearbox and a high-voltage inverter, as well as the corresponding software and controls.

The front drive unit is used only in the dual motor, all-wheel drive configurations, as the primary drive unit - a permanent magnet synchronous electric motor - is in the rear (often 150 kW for a total system output of 220 kW).

The permanent magnet motors are produced in-house by Volkswagen Group Components in the Kassel plant in Germany (some components come from other plants). See interesting report about Volkswagen's rear electric motor here.

A high volume production of front drive units indicates that Volkswagen will produce and sell a high volume of AWD electric cars.

"HME is the global supplier of secondary eDrives for Volkswagen’s all-wheel drive MEB models with power greater than 185kW. The highly integrated eDrive system is specifically optimized for secondary eDrives for electrified vehicles. The system was designed using Magna’s fully integrated, modular and scalable building block approach, resulting in a cost-efficient and highly advanced product that meets the various demands for global application. It is one of many eDrive products in Magna’s portfolio that covers power ranges up to 250 kW for all vehicle types."

Tom Rucker, President of Magna Powertrain said:

“We take a lot of pride in being the global supplier for all secondary eDrives for Volkswagen’s MEB platform and seeing the initial vehicles hit the market. This is Magna’s most recent, high-voltage eDrive system to be industrialized for serial production, and we are excited to make it available to the global market.”

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Haitao Zhang, President of HASCO said:

“This development is a testament to the successful cooperation between Magna and HASCO and represents an important milestone in our electrification strategy. As a leading eDrive systems supplier in China, we are proud to support our customers across the globe in their transition toward new energy vehicles,”.