Eco-Friendly Car Factories: The Challenge of Zero Emissions

European institutions have challenged the automotive industry to reduce emissions, prompting a search for technologies to replace the traditional combustion engine. In this race against time, most companies have turned to electrification for their new models. Today, most companies offer electrified vehicles in their catalogues.

Now, manufacturers face a new challenge: ensuring that assembly processes occur in eco-friendly factories, with a focus on energy savings to achieve zero emissions throughout the process.

To achieve this, the first step has been to seek green energy sources to meet production needs. Many automotive production plants now feature large solar panel fields, especially on rooftops, wind turbines to harness wind power, and other forms of clean energy generation.

An example of adaptation to achieve emission-neutral factories is Audi's plant in Györ, Hungary. Since 2013, coinciding with the start of car manufacturing, the G42 energy centre has been operational, making the Györ plant CO2 neutral since 2020. Efforts have focused on two main areas: installing a geothermal heating system and solar panels on factory rooftops in 2020.

In 2016, Audi Hungary signed a contract with a company to supply geothermal energy, locating a thermal water reservoir 15 kilometres from the plant, providing 92% of the heating energy in a country where winter temperatures can drop below -25 degrees.

Geothermal energy extraction involves drilling 2,500 metres deep to pump hot water at nearly 100 degrees Celsius. After use, the water is reintegrated into the thermal aquifer, five kilometres from the extraction point, taking five years to regain its initial temperature. The Györ factory hosts Hungary's second-largest geothermal station.

Annual savings can equate to 100,000 megawatts of energy, over 50% of the plant's consumption.

In 2020, a contract was signed with an electric company to build Europe's largest solar panel surface, covering 160,000 square metres, equivalent to 22 football fields.

This factory began 26 years ago with the production of the Audi TT. Today, with facilities spanning 5,142,115 square metres and employing 11,663 people, nearly 180,000 vehicles (177,775 in 2023) of the Audi Q3, Audi Q3 Sportback, and Audi TT models are produced.

Beyond vehicle assembly, Györ is a key player in Audi's ecosystem for engine production, manufacturing propulsion systems for the Volkswagen Group since 1994. Over the years, it has become the world's largest propulsion system factory. In 2023, Audi Hungary produced 1,660,425 engines for 35 Volkswagen Group production centres.

Of the engines produced in 2023, 1,164,289 were three and four-cylinder petrol and diesel engines. The plant also produced 19,734 five-cylinder petrol engines, 277,081 six-cylinder petrol engines, 78,905 six-cylinder diesel engines, and 6,216 ten-cylinder engines. Additionally, 114,058 electric propulsion systems were manufactured in Györ.

In total, Audi Hungary produced six different petrol engine variants and two diesel ones in 2023, as well as two families of electric motors, with power ranges from 90 kW (122 hp) to 180 kW (244 hp).

Electric motors have been produced in Györ since 2018. Over the years, their share of total production volume has increased significantly. The electric motors manufactured here are used in the Audi Q8 e-tron, Audi Q6 e-tron, and Porsche Macan. New propulsion systems for the Group's fully electric models based on the Premium Electric Platform (PPE) will also be supplied by Györ. A new area in the factory was prepared for their production in 2022.

An additional area is being prepared to manufacture new motors for the MEBeco platform. Audi Hungary will then produce a new family of electric motors with greater vertical integration.

For example, for the first time, the laminated metal package forming the core of the electric motor will be mass-produced. In the future, rotors and power electronics will also be manufactured. These propulsion systems will later be used in the Volkswagen Group's small electric vehicles.

Audi manufactures electric motors for the Premium Platform Electric (PPE) at the world's largest propulsion plant in Györ, Hungary, covering about 15,000 square metres, also producing stator components and transmissions and assembling axles. The stator production line involves 28 work steps, while the transmission component line has 15.

Assembling an axle requires over 190 individual steps. In total, around 700 workers are involved in the production of PPE propulsion systems. In Györ, three shifts enable the serial production of 2,000 electric motors for PPE each day. The electric propulsion systems manufactured here are for Audi and Porsche's PPE models.

Employees required 20 days of training each to learn everything. Over 500,000 electric motors have been manufactured since 2018. For PPE alone, 15 automatic bending machines are used to create three-dimensional fork-shaped windings, followed by two systems for laser welding the ends. Each stator contains 140 metres of copper wire.

A total of 235 laser welds are needed to manufacture one. Compared to combustion engine models, electric ones typically have fewer bolted fastenings but require more pressing, allowing for more robot use.