Little by little more affordable offers appear in the world of electric cars, especially for those who do not need long autonomies or high performance, but utilities for day to day. Emerging manufacturer Next.e.GO Mobile is starting to grow after last year’s close.
The beginnings of new players in the automotive world are never easy, unless they come with bread under their arms (large investments). The German company Next.e.GO Mobile It is another of many that wants to eat a piece of the electromobility cake in Europe and some foreign markets. One of his leitmotif they are sustainability and mobility for all (come on, economic).
Next.e.GO Mobile may not sound familiar to you. It was founded in 2017 as e.GO Mobile AG by Günther Schuh, Professor at the University of Aachen (RWTH Aachen). His name will be more familiar to us if we say that he also founded Street Scooter in 2010, an electromobility startup that was bought by the German postal company, Deutsche Post DHL, in 2014. In 2020 he ceased his activity, by the way.
Next.e.GO Mobile is a modest electric vehicle producer looking to expand. In addition to its factory in Germany, will have another in Bulgaria within two years. Bulgarian Economy Minister Kiril Petrov made a first announcement last Wednesday. Today he has reiterated it after signing a memorandum of understanding with the German company. Next.e.GO Mobile will invest 140 million euros to build these facilities.
Why Bulgaria?
The factory will be located in Lovech – the capital of the homonymous province, in the north of the country – and manufacturing is expected to begin within two years, with about 1,000 direct jobs. Much of the parts will also come from Bulgarian suppliers, and that includes the also German Bosch, with facilities in the Slavic country.
In addition to the company’s investment, there will be public money from Bulgaria involved in the project: 34 million euros. This quantity will be divided into three stages, the first when serial production actually begins, and the last when a volume of 20,000 units per year in sales is reached.
The announcement of the Bulgarian minister is very timely, tomorrow there are parliamentary elections in the country
For the Slavic country, it is another opportunity to open a gap in the automotive sector, benefiting from its entry into the European Union and its lower wage costs. In fact, several component production companies have settled there, and so will Volkswagen. Eastern Europe is rapidly making its way for these reasons.
The e.GO Cross is not yet in production, it was presented in near-final prototype form in 2020 alongside a ‘sports’ version, e.GO Life Sport
The models that will be manufactured in Bulgaria will be the e.GO Life and e.GO Cross (the same, but crossover). These are models classified as passenger cars (M1), which can be registered like any other car, and they aim at the most economical part of the market, just above the light quadricycles that can be driven without a B license (in the case of the Citroën Ami), something similar to Dacia Spring.
The e.GO Life Next reaches 122 km / h and accelerates in 4.3 seconds … to 50 km / h
Going further into flour, the e.GO Life (now e.GO Life Next) is an A-segment utility vehicle, with a length of 3.35 meters. It is designed for short and regular trips, with a combined WLTP range of 125 km (or 171 km per urban area) thanks to its 21.3 kWh of batteries (net).
On the other hand, Next.e.GO Mobile has already signed a similar agreement in principle for the production of electric cars in nearby Greece, in december of last year, but it was pending materialization. As there was no more news about it, we understand that there was no agreement with the Greeks and a plan B was chosen.
The company’s first vehicle, e.GO Life, was unveiled in 2017 and the first deliveries to customers took place in 2019, with production also in Aachen (Aachen Rothe Erde). This company was one of the victims of the coronavirus pandemic, declaring itself in suspension of payments in April 2020. Production was temporarily interrupted.
Thanks to the investment of the group nd Group BV, the company was refloated in September of the same year, this time as Next.e.GO Mobile SE, for an unknown amount. The founder, Günther Schuh, continues to be linked to the company as CEO – Managing Director – of the same, and continues to be a shareholder. Cars are leaving the Aachen plant again this month.
The company is planning a possible exit to the markets to attract more investment. Among the reasons they are going to put forward is that it is one of the few independent German manufacturers of large groups, and that, unlike others, they have cars rolling down the street in private hands and positive experiences of their first customers.