The Brussels plant is working on various levers to enable decarbonisation and was certified as the world’s first carbon-neutral large-scale production facility in the premium segment. As a matter of priority, Audi Brussels has achieved this goal using renewable energy based on three core pillars: at first, Audi switched to green electricity in 2012. To this end, one of the largest photovoltaic systems in the region was installed on the plant’s premises. It now measures 107,000 square meters and generates approx. 9,000 megawatt hours of electricity per year. Secondly, heat is supplied to the site (e.g. halls, offices, etc.) using renewable energy via coverage through biogas certificates. Water required for the heat supply is heated with gas compensated by biogas certificates. For each megawatt hour of gas consumed, a certificate of origin for one megawatt hour of biogas is purchased. Currently, the biogas comes from France.
Thus, 100% of the energy requirements at the Brussels plant are covered by renewable energy. The Brussels site offsets approx. 5% of technically unavoidable carbon emissions with so-called carbon credit projects as a third measure.
As the Brussels site is supplied with over 4,000 different parts and components from more than 500 supplier companies arriving by train and truck on a daily basis, Audi Brussels has set itself the goal of making infrastructural processes highly efficient, thus reducing energy requirements from the outset. To this end, the modern “Automotive Park” logistics and supplier centre provides the infrastructure for efficient material supply to the plant. It is connected to the production halls via a bridge. This close integration with smart in-plant logistics sustainably increases production efficiency as it operates with automated material transport using AGVs and digitised processes.
At the end of the production process, two sites and numerous departments (i.e. Production, Logistics, Sustainability, and Sales) have ensured that the production of the Audi Q8 e-tron can indeed be carbon neutral on the environmental balance sheet, making sure customers receive a fully green vehicle.