The Volkswagen Group has established a new company for energy offerings and charging solutions, underlining its strategic goal of become a leading provider of sustainable mobility. The new brand, named Elli Group, will be headquartered in Berlin with the main goal of developing products and services connected with energy and charging for brands of the VW Group.
Thomas Ulbrich, VW Brand Board Member responsible for E-Mobility, said: “As one of the world’s largest automakers, VW is going to force the pace of the urgently needed transport and energy transition to emission-neutral e-mobility. The new company will play its part with energy offerings from renewable sources and smart charging solutions. This way, we are entering a strategically relevant, extremely exciting business area that offers considerable opportunities for strengthening ties with existing customers as well as accessing entirely new customer groups.”
Thorsten Nicklaß, former CEO of the Digital Energy Solutions and now CEO of Elli, says that the company will also offer customers outside the group green power from renewable sources that are CO2-neutral. “Our mission is to take e-mobility out of its niche and to place it firmly in the mainstream. The name ‘Elli’ stands for ‘electric life’, because we intend to enable a lifestyle that fully integrates the electric car in people’s everyday lives. This approach could be compared with the use of a mobile phone, which is taken for granted nowadays.”
Elli will build up a portfolio of intelligent power tariffs, Wallboxes and charging stations as well as an IT-based energy management system. This will work towards a sustainable ecosystem that addresses the main applications and provides answers to all the energy questions raised by EV users. VW is hoping to launch Elli alongside the roll-out of its I.D. electric-car line in 2020.
