Audi intends to become a leading provider of sustainable mobility. The maker of premium vehicles is now investing in facilities that produce green power. The first solar park is already on the grid.

The own contribution to increased sustainability is becoming more and more important for companies. This effort focuses on such goals as reducing the company’s use of resources and minimising its CO₂ emissions. One highly effective way to achieve these objectives is to convert the company’s fleet to fully electric vehicles (BEV) – a class of vehicles that could significantly reduce a company’s overall emissions. That is why Audi is focusing on the charging current of its electric fleet as a key lever for reducing CO₂.

Power for fleets …

The premium automaker based in Ingolstadt, Germany, is currently working with energy providers to develop supplies of green electricity. Under the plan, new wind and solar parks are to be built by 2025 in a number of European countries in an alliance with various partners. Once in operation, these units will be capable of generating a total of approximately five terawatt hours of additional green power. This would amount to an installed capacity of about 250 new wind turbines.

… with the power of the sun

A solar park located in the northern German state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania has already gone into operation as part of a partnership with the German energy provider RWE. The facility went online in 2022 and has a total capacity of 170 million kilowatt hours. The facility is one of the largest independent solar parks in Germany with nearly 420,000 solar modules. Other projects are to follow.

Charging?
But with green power …

Today, Audi customers in Germany can already take out a green electricity charging tariff with Volkswagen subsidiary ELLI for charging at home, for example. The operators of charging points used by drivers on the go – like the European HPC²⁾ charging network of IONITY – are already using green power, too.

… and in the company

The partnership with energy providers also represents the next step towards a neutral carbon balance sheet¹⁾ throughout the company by 2050. Audi is keeping an eye on the entire product lifetime of its models in this process – ranging from the manufacturing phase to the usage phase and recycling. As an interim goal, the brand with the four rings is working to reduce the carbon footprint produced throughout the product lifetime of its vehicle fleet by 40 percent compared with 2018 by 2030.