Opinion: Here’s the rundown of Volkswagen’s planned electric

On Oct 5, 2021

The electrification of the automotive industry is in full swing, and Volkswagen has a smorgasbord of entrants.

With the ID series, the German company has put into motion a plan to launch an entire range of fully electric models. True to its namesake (“people’s car”) and ID’s motto (“electromobility for everyone”), Volkswagen’s
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ambition is to make electric cars mainstream. Volkswagen says half its sales will consist of battery-electric vehicles by 2030.

The economic and technological backbone for this great transition from ICE (internal combustion engine) to EV (electric vehicle) is Volkswagen’s platform dubbed MEB (Modulare E-Antriebs-Baukasten, or modular electric-drive toolkit) — a set of common components upon which VW EVs are built.

Thomas Ulbrich, a member of the Volkswagen Board of Management for Mobility, called MEB “probably the most important project in Volkswagen’s history — a technological milestone, similar to the transition from the Beetle to the Golf.”

By the end of 2022, four Volkswagen Group brands will be ramping up 27 MEB models worldwide, ranging from compact cars to the lifestyle minivan, Bulli.

Read: All the companies that are making or planning electric vehicles

Thanks to MEB, all vehicles in the ID lineup will feature the unique layout of key components, which will enable a series of innovations such as significantly larger interior space, more optimal weight distribution and handling, and driving range between 200 and more than 340 miles on the WLTP (Worldwide Harmonized Light Vehicles Test Procedure) cycle. All this with decent charging speeds of up to 80% in 30 minutes.

Introduction in 2016

The ID series was premiered at the Paris Motor Show in 2016. That was four years after Tesla
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started selling its first mass-produced EV, the Model S. Since then, nine concept cars have been introduced to the public, the latest being ID Life at IAA MOBILITY 2021 in Munich. Several of these concepts have already been converted into production models.

The first was the ID.3, a compact based on the “ID” concept vehicle, which was introduced in 2016 as the forerunner of the series. The recommended price point was 30,000 to 40,000 euros ($34,900 to $46,500). It entered production in 2019; in 2020, 54,495 cars were sold, making it one of the best-selling models in Europe.

Although ID.3 won’t be coming to the U.S., two other vehicles based on the concepts from the series will cross the pond — ID.Buzz (also known as the VW Electric Microbus) and ID. Crozz, an electric crossover.

Mass-market ID.4

The latter concept was the basis for what’s today known as ID.4, Volkswagen’s first fully electric crossover SUV, which debuted in September 2020. Dubbed a “car for millions, not millionaires,” with a price tag of $40,000, ID.4 is positioned as a high-volume, mass-market vehicle. Considering its…