Volkswagen ID.3

I-spy ID.3 as first models roll into the UK

A major milestone in Volkswagen’s latest chapter has been marked with the arrival of the ground-breaking Volkswagen ID.3 1st Edition in the UK, heralding the start of the company’s electric future.

As well as its cutting-edge electric powertrain, the ID.3 is generously equipped, featuring heated front seats, Natural Voice Control, Adaptive Cruise Control, Keyless entry and start, LED matrix headlights with Welcome Light, a bi-colour exterior, and 19-inch wheels.

The ID.3 uses a 58 kWh (net capacity) battery and a 204 PS electric motor driving the rear wheels. It has a range of 261 miles (WLTP) and can rapid-charge at 100 kW, which can add 180 miles of range in as little as 30 minutes.

The ID.3 introduces a number of new features to the Volkswagen range, including a central airbag, which helps prevent collision between occupants in the event of a side impact.

Built on the MEB (Modular Electric Drive Matrix) platform, the ID.3 has a modular battery pack design, meaning different battery capacities can be ordered, with customers able to opt for different ranges based on their requirements. The flexible MEB platform can accommodate numerous body styles – indeed, an entire family of ID. models will launch over the next few years, the first of which will be the ID.4 SUV.

It is anticipated that by 2025 1.5 million electric Volkswagens will be sold annually around the world.

First announced in May 2019, the ID.3 1ST Edition is the flag-bearer of the ID.3 line-up. Priced at £38,880 before any Government grant is applied it features exclusive badging and a two-tone honeycomb decal, alongside an extensive equipment list.

Standard equipment includes LED headlights with Matrix Beam and Welcome Light, 19-inch Andoya alloy wheels and tinted rear windows, along with a black-coloured roof, side skirts, boot and rear spoiler. Several driver assistance systems are also included, with Adaptive Cruise Control, Front Assist and Lane Assist included in the package, as well as parking sensors and a rear-view camera.

Inside, a 10-inch infotainment system with natural voice control function complements a fully digital dashboard, while ambient lighting with 30 colour options allows the driver to change the mood of the interior to their preference. ‘Play’ and ‘Pause’ symbols on the pedals add a further sense of fun to the forward-thinking electric vehicle.

The ID.3 1ST Edition also launches with the industry-first ID.Light – a dynamic LED band the width of the interior windscreen, which changes its pattern and colour to supplement and support Navigation signals, charging status, driver assist technologies or the natural voice control.

Personalisation options available include four paint colours – Moonstone Grey (standard), Manganese Grey, Glacier White and Makena Turquoise (all £620) – and three interior colour schemes: white and black, white and orange, and black.

The ID.3 1ST Edition has an ample range of 260 miles (WLTP) from its 58 kWh (net) battery capacity. It also features the added bonus of rapid charging compatibility of up to 100 kW, with the ability to add around 180 miles of range in just 30 minutes from a 100 kW CCS charger.

The 260-mile range is sufficient to travel from London to Manchester, with 50 miles to spare.

With 204 PS of power and 310 Nm of torque instantly available, the ID.3 1ST is fast enough to match a Golf GTI from rest up to 37mph, while the 0 to 62 mph sprint is dispatched in a brisk 7.3 seconds before maximum speed is reached at 99 mph. The ID.3 1ST also benefits from the Volkswagen brand high-voltage battery warranty of eight years or 100,000 miles.

By virtue of Volkswagen’s clever Modular Electrification Toolkit (MEB) platform, the ID.3

shares a similar footprint with the Golf, but provides as much interior space as a Passat, while maintaining the same tight turning circle as the up! city car.

The flexibility of the MEB platform allows multiple different models to be built with it at their core; this economy of scale brings down the consumer cost of the final models – an attribute which traditionally has been obstructive to mainstream electric vehicle adoption by the public.

The ID.3 is already an award-winner for Volkswagen, having secured its first major UK accolade in October 2019, when carwow gave it the title of ‘Most Wanted’. This award recognises the car that stirred up the most interest on its website across the course of 2019, thereby confirming the ID.3 as one of the most highly anticipated cars of this year. More recently GQ named the ID.3 ‘Best Family Car’ at its 2020 GQ Car Awards, hailing the model as the “future of sustainable motoring”.

Carbon neutrality in production is contributory to the ID.3’s early success with critics, with renewable energy used in its production – including production of its batteries. This is a key step in Volkswagen’s progress towards net carbon neutrality by 2050, and helps the brand’s commitment to the Paris Climate Agreement.

Andrew Savvas, Volkswagen UK Managing Director, said: “The ID.3 is one of the most important cars Volkswagen has ever launched – and the British public seems to be as excited about it as I am.

“Here, an overwhelming number of customer signed up as pre-bookers last year, even before they saw the final ID.3 unveiled. It has created a huge stir.

“The ID.3 symbolises Volkswagen’s new electric future, and that future is here – now.

“At the point at which it leaves the factory in Zwickau, Germany, the ID.3 can lay claim to being the world’s first mass-produced CO 2 -neutral car. Producing the ID.3 in this way shows that we are very serious about sustainability as we help to safeguard our world for future generations.

“This is only the beginning of the ID. story.”

Felix Egolf in his ID.31

ID.31 smashes record for electric range

The new Volkswagen ID.3 range is already a record-breaker, after a .31 version covered the 531 kilometres (330 miles) from its manufacturing home in Zwickau to Schaffhausen (Switzerland) on a single charge.

Officially, the model has a range of up to 420 kilometres (261 miles) according to the WLTP analysis. But this mark was topped by more than 100 kilometres – an increase of 26 per cent. The vehicle was an ID.3 1st Pro Performance with a 58 kWh battery built at the Zwickau electric car factory.

The route to Switzerland consisted entirely of public roads and highways, passing cities such as Bayreuth and Ulm. The record-breaking vehicle was driven by ‘hypermiler’ Felix Egolf, a Swiss national who specialises in driving production vehicles with techniques that maximise efficiency and minimise consumption.

Egolf – a name that meant he just had to be used by VW, really – was clearly impressed. “This car has everything, it is compact but spacious, has a cool, almost futuristic design and a low drag co-efficient”.

Although the record-breaking journey is not entirely comparable with day-to-day trips, it nevertheless underpins the everyday practicality of the ID.3. “With its high-volt battery, efficient drivetrain and fast charging capability, even long journeys are not a problem”, said Reinhard de Vries from Volkswagen.

Apart from the technology, the race to break records depends on an economical driving style. Felix Egolf constantly lifted off the accelerator and let the ID.3 coast. On the highway sections of the journey, he sometimes used the slipstream of trucks travelling in front of him. To save power auxiliary consumers such as navigation, daytime running lights, radio and ventilation were either temporarily or permanently in operation. Nevertheless, power consumption was a mere 10.9 kWh/100 km. The standardised consumption rating of the ID.3 is 15.4-14.5 kWh/100 km.