Dusseldorf There are a good 300 kilometers between Braunschweig and Zwickau. For the transport of parts from its own component plant in the north of Braunschweig to the car factory in the Saxon industrial city, Volkswagen used to generally use trucks – with the corresponding burden on the roads and the environment.
That changed with the start of the production of electric cars in Zwickau. The batteries assembled in Braunschweig weigh several hundred kilograms and are comparatively large. They are easier to transport by train, which at the same time relieves the burden on the environment.
In addition, the battery cells prefabricated by the supplier LG Chem are already arriving by train from its Polish plant in Wroclaw to Braunschweig. Overall, the CO2 pollution drops significantly. Volkswagen estimates that switching to rail will save 60 truck trips a day. The carbon dioxide emissions fall annually by 11,000 tons.
VW Group Logistics, a subsidiary of the Wolfsburg-based car manufacturer with around 800 employees and billions in sales, is responsible for transporting the batteries from Braunschweig to Zwickau. It is part of a major project: Volkswagen has committed itself to becoming climate neutral by 2050. No additional CO2 should be created and released into the atmosphere along the entire value chain of a car.
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VW logistics has not only started between Braunschweig and Zwickau to gradually replace transports with higher carbon dioxide emissions with more environmentally friendly alternatives. All transport routes are checked. “It’s not an easy task – not everything can be completely converted overnight,” says Simon Motter, head of Wolfsburg’s group logistics for a year, in an interview with the Handelsblatt. His company is responsible for about one percent of the CO2 emissions of an individual car.
VW ships 43,000 cars a day
The VW subsidiary essentially controls two transport areas for the car manufacturer. On the one hand, it organizes the transport of parts to the individual plants. On the other hand, group logistics has to get the finished vehicles on their way to the customers. That is an average of 43,000 cars per day worldwide.
The battery transport by train from Braunschweig to Zwickau is an example of how Volkswagen’s group logistics can reduce CO2 emissions. At least in Germany, VW trains run emission-free. Deutsche Bahn guarantees the use of green energy only.
“We use green electricity that comes from renewable energy sources in Germany,” explains Sigrid Nikutta, Board Member for Freight Transport at Deutsche Bahn. In this way, the state-owned company enables green supply chains and sustainably lowers CO2 emissions.
1.8 million tons of CO2 are generated annually in the entire transport system of the VW Group. About 40 percent is due to ships, 50 percent to truck traffic and the rest to the railways – abroad, with private railways or diesel locomotives. Volkswagen wants to permanently reduce the number of truck transports everywhere and use more trains, not just between Zwickau and Braunschweig.
Batteries for the VW e-cars come by train from Breslau via Braunschweig to Zwickau.
(Photo: dpa)
This year, the rail share of vehicle transports in Europe is expected to increase from 53 percent to 60 percent. “The railways are an essential factor on the way to CO2 neutrality”, says logistics manager Motter.
The heavier the part, the shorter the way should be
The view that it is best for the environment if transports can be canceled completely is unfortunately theory, he adds. “It will never work without it,” Motter continued.
Volkswagen makes sure that large and heavy parts are not transported over long distances if possible. One example are the massive steel coils that weigh several tons and from which the body panels are punched. Motors, which are also comparatively heavy, are usually transported by Volkswagen by rail.
There are other savings opportunities for an automobile manufacturer like Volkswagen in shipping. Various VW ships transport 2.5 million new cars every year.
The port in the East Frisian Emden is particularly important for this, right next to a VW plant, from where VW controls a large part of the ship’s logistics. Ships are anything but environmentally friendly because their diesel engines emit carbon dioxide and other pollutants into the atmosphere on a large scale.
Volkswagen wants to gradually replace the diesel in its ships with liquefied natural gas (LNG). With LNG of fossil origin, a 25 percent reduction in CO2 is possible, with bio-LNG no new CO2 is produced when it is burned. At the beginning of 2024, six out of nine of the VW ships should be converted to the new type of fuel.
VW wants to operate six of the nine car transporters with LNG.
(Photo: dpa)
A year ago, Volkswagen in Emden started another experiment with vegetable oils as a diesel substitute. The group uses two charter ships for European traffic. They drive around 50 times a year on a circuit between Emden, Dublin, Santander in northern Spain and Setubal in Portugal and back to Emden. They transport around 250,000 new vehicles.
The new fuel made from vegetable oils is expected to reduce annual carbon dioxide emissions from 60,000 to around 9,000 tons. Recycled vegetable oils from the catering and food industry are used.
CO2 emissions can also be reduced through intelligent packaging. For example, the logistics experts at Volkswagen are constantly working on accommodating more freight in less space, which in the end reduces the number of transports. “Ideal nesting and packaging is an important part of our work,” says Head of Logistics Motter. The amount of packaging material should also be reduced.
Larger trucks have a better environmental footprint per car
Volkswagen does not use its own car transporters, but basically works with independent freight forwarders. Nevertheless, the group tries to improve the environmental efficiency of car transports.
The Spanish subsidiary Seat has started a corresponding attempt together with the group logistics. In Spain, larger trucks are used to transport the finished cars. These are trucks with longer trailers that have additional space for two cars. The emissions balance speak clearly in favor of such enlarged trucks, said Motter.
Despite many traffic jams on the streets, trucks remain indispensable for the Wolfsburg group logistics. “We also need the trucks,” says Motter. Because trains don’t go everywhere, the gaps have to be closed with trucks. The truck transports are still reliable even with heavy traffic.
Motter would nevertheless like to see more investments in the road infrastructure “in order to avoid traffic jams and also to prepare for the switch to emission-free, battery-electric trucks and, in the future, also autonomous trucks.” in between with the train – to be reinforced.
According to Simon Motter, Volkswagen has the current situation with the semiconductor crisis and a lack of truck drivers “very well under control”. However, the significantly reduced production figures due to the lack of chips also help. “With full production, one or the other negative effect might be noticeable,” he points out.
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