Audi Bringing Solar to German Manufacturing Plants

INGOLSTADT, Germany — German automaker Audi that it is expanding its rooftop solar electricity installation at its main plant in Ingolstadt, Germany and plans to charge its e-tron cars with electricity generated at the plant.

By the end of the month the company says it will also have installed additional photovoltaic solar panels on the roof of its new Audi A3 body construction facility located in the country.

Munich-based Green City Energy is overseeing the installation of the photovoltaic panels. The new installations will cover 11,600 square meters of the Ingolstadt plant’s roof and an additional 7,500 square meters on the Audi A3 building’s roof. Following the installation, the A3 site will generate 500 kilowatts during peak performance.

Combined, the installations will generate 460 megawatts of electricity, enough to power 180 German homes. Average household electricity use in Germany is much lower than in the US.

This will be Audi’s first time using on-site solar generated energy in its electricity network. Currently, the automaker uses solar energy at its production plant in Neckarsulm, Germany. The installations there produce more than 1,000 megawatt hours of electricity a year.