Audi in Brussels : we visit a factory and drive a special three-wheeler

• Audi plans on adding more energy-saving solutions at its Brussels plant.

• The Audi Q8 e-tron is assembled in Brussels.

• The factory has been operational since 1949.

Brussels, BE – When you think of a nation known for its automotive culture, Belgium is not the first country that comes to mind. Yet in the Forest district of Brussels, the capital of Belgium, a car factory has been in operation since 1949. Surprisingly, the first cars assembled on the urban site – which currently bears the four rings of the brand – had no connection with the Volkswagen group or even its country of origin, Germany.

Since 1949

Indeed, the first cars produced by the D’Ieteren family-owned company were models of the American manufacturer Studebaker. The managers of the investment company had estimated that it was cheaper to import the parts and assemble the cars locally.

This collaboration did not last very long, as Volkswagen once again moved to Belgian territory when the first Beetle left the factory in 1954, less than a decade after the end of the Second World War. Ironically, the factory is located on Boulevard de la Deuxième Armée Britannique, the one that liberated the Belgian capital before the surrender of Germany.

A giant in Brussels

In addition to the famous Beetle, the manufacturer will also produce the Transporter van on site. It should be mentioned that the factory is still managed by the family-owned company. However, in 1970, the factory was bought by the German manufacturer. Over the decades, several models of the Volkswagen family were assembled there, including the Passat, the Golf and even two models of the Seat range.

Some mythical models will also see the light of day at this precise location like the Porsche 356 or the ancestor of the current Golf R, the Volkswagen Rallye Golf based on the platform of the second generation of the model.

In 2006, a decision of the manufacturer will sow anger among the employees of the car complex. Indeed, the transfer of the Golf production to the Wolfsburg and Mosel sites meant the loss of several thousand jobs, but it was then that another division of the Volkswagen group stepped in to save the Brussels plant. In 2007, the Audi A3 and the continued production of the Volkswagen Polo gave the staff a break. In 2010, the Audi A1 city car was born within the walls of the plant located a few meters from the railroad.

The electric future of the brand

Ironically, the Belgian factory will move from the brand’s smallest model to the most imposing one, the Audi e-tron being a heavy and luxurious crossover, the opposite of the friendly and agile A1. And since December 2022, it’s the Q8 e-tron’s turn to leave the Brussels factory. Let’s remember that the carmaker renamed its very first electric vehicle to integrate it into the Q8 range, which can also be ordered with a thermal powertrain, in several levels of performance.

It is in this factory that the German manufacturer had invited some members of the automotive press, on the occasion of some announcements related to the complex.

A carbon-neutral factory?

With the shift to electric vehicles, automakers are not only looking to assemble zero-emission vehicles to reduce their own environmental footprint. They must also consider reducing their impact on the environment at the very place where the new electric vehicles are assembled. The plant has been covered with solar panels since 2013, saving the complex about 15% in energy costs.

One of the many solutions already in place by Audi is to recycle water using a closed circuit. With the collaboration of the Brussels-Capital Region, the Audi plant takes advantage of the water treatment plant located near the complex to integrate grey water into its industrial processes. In other words, the water used by production is purified again by the water treatment plant and returned to the cycle. Audi claims that this solution alone saves over 100,000 cubic meters of drinking water per year.

This gesture, which may be reproduced in the other industrial complexes of the brand, is part of the Mission:Zero, the name of the plan the brand has set for itself before 2035. Indeed, Audi plans to reduce by half the water consumption per vehicle produced by 2035.

To further reduce the ecological impact on the environment, the Brussels plant uses rail transport to bring the battery modules and cells from the Hungarian supplier’s site, about 1,300 km away from the Belgian plant. This means that the train is less polluting than a truck equipped with a thermal engine. This alternative saves about 2,600 tons of carbon emissions annually. In fact, Audi uses the services of DBeco neutral on the Hungarian and Belgian side, the service that offsets the energy used for transport with climate certificates.

This shift to rail transport will soon be extended to the entire company. By 2025, battery modules and cells will increasingly be delivered by rail.

A second life for batteries

One of the challenges of the electric car is what to do with the batteries when their useful life is over. Staff at the Brussels plant have developed a new software program called BattMAN (Battery Monitoring Analysis Necessity), which can check the condition of a worn-out battery in the Audi e-tron or any other Volkswagen Group EV in a matter of seconds.

Depending on the condition of this worn-out battery, Audi has three possible avenues:

Remanufacturing, due to the very healthy condition of the battery, allows the component to be offered as a replacement part for electric vehicles.

The second option, when the battery is in average condition, moves the battery to its second life, which can be found in an electric device that does not need to be in a luxury crossover.

Finally, the third option is to dismantle the battery altogether and recycle the multiple materials that make up the battery.

The e-Rickshaw project

To illustrate the potential of batteries in their second life cycle, Audi, through the Audi Environmental Foundation, has collaborated with the German-Indian startup Nunam to develop the e-Rickshaw, a purely electric version of the popular three-wheeled vehicle that has been plying its trade in India for a long time. In fact, three vehicles are being studied in a pilot project in India at this time. Nunam has selected a non-profit company and the use of the electric Rickshaws will save on fuel costs.

“The old batteries are still extremely powerful,” says Prodip Chatterjee, co-founder of Nunam. “Used wisely, second-hand batteries can have a huge impact, helping people in difficult circumstances earn an income and gain economic independence, all in a sustainable way.”

In fact, the automaker had one dressed in the orange colors of the brand’s recent e-tron prototypes. And we were even able to test drive the famous vehicle inside the walls of the Brussels factory.

The short test drive, which lasted only a few minutes, allowed us to discover a very unusual vehicle compared to the safe and quiet cars of nowadays. Closer to a motorcycle with its handlebars and single front wheel steering, the electric Rickshaw requires some adjustment. Fortunately, it is not very powerful, but the torque available as soon as the vehicle is in motion is surprising at first. For acceleration, all you must do is turn the right handlebar grip, while the brake is activated by a foot pedal on the right side.

It’s important to note that the second-hand batteries from the first versions of the e-tron crossover are from test vehicles, which are older than the production vehicles sold to private customers. However, once these battery modules have reached this second life stage, the manufacturer is already preparing the next step in the story with initiatives like the e-Rickshaw project.

Let’s face it, the entire automotive industry will have to find solutions for the recycling and recovery of used batteries in the electric car era. In fact, the whole process must be rethought to save the resources of our great planet.