VOLKSWAGEN ID.7 DEBUTS WITH 700KM RANGE

German giant’s biggest EV breaks cover; fve-metre electric sedan to enter production this year

By JEFFREY GIBBS

Volkswagen is set to launch its frst electric sedan this year, the 2023 Volkswagen ID.7. This new EV will join the ID.3 hatch, ID.4 and ID.5 SUVs, and the ID. Buzz van and peoplemover. The ID.7 will be the frst Volkswagen EV on the German carmaker’s MEB platform to use an electric motor developed in-house and will have up to 700km of EV range from its biggest 86kWh lithiumion battery pack. It will launch in both Europe and China in the third quarter of the year, with North American release planned for next year. The ID.7 will be powered by a rearmounted permanentmagnet synchronous motor and will be launched frst as the ID.7 Pro, with a standard 77kWh (net) battery. Volkswagen hasn’t confrmed the more effcient new APP550 motor’s outputs, but they’re likely to be around 150kW and 310-320Nm

– around the same as the entry-level ID. Buzz. The ID.7 will charge at 22kW AC or up to 170kW on a DC fast-charger, while the later-arriving 86kWh battery in the ID.7 Pro S will charge at up to 200kW. There is a new trick that automatically pre-conditions the battery on approach whenever the driver approaches a programmed-in fastcharger on the navigation system. The ID.7 will be the biggest sedan yet on the MEB EV architecture at 4961mm, which is longer than even the standard ID. Buzz by 249mm.

It’s 377mm longer overall than the ID.4 medium SUV, plus 195mm longer in wheelbase and 10mm in width, at 1862mm wide. It’s also 1538mm high, so it’s no SUV, and its sloping rear