Electric vehicles are a rare bright spot in a European market in the depths of winter gloom, COVID-19 restrictions and general economic and unemployment malaise.
According to the number crunchers at JATO Dynamics, electrified vehicles, including pure electrics (BEV), plug- in hybrids (PHEV), pure hybrids (HEV) and mild hybrids, took 26.8% of the European car market, 302,587 units, in October 2020. For a second consecutive month, EVs outsold diesel cars, which took a 26.3% slice. EV sales grew 153% last month, in part due to mild hybrid cars which have become the preferred vehicle for carmakers and consumers looking for greener cars with a more accessible price tag than offered by pure electrics and hybrids. In October, mild hybrids accounted for nearly a third (32%) of EV registrations with demand soaring by 427%.
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The real electrics, pure electric cars (BEV), saw a YoY increase of 197% with 71,800 units sold in October. Growth was driven by new launches, including the Volkswagen ID.3, which registered 10,590 units in the Europe-27 markets. Becoming the continent’s top selling electric car and placing 29th in the overall ranking, the ID.3 owes much of its success to businesses and fleets, with more than half of these registrations coming from buyers in these areas.
It’s also VW’s first from the ground up EV. The company has previously fielded a Golf BEV, created by replacing the ICE engine with an EV drivetrain and poking the batteries in wherever they fit underneath. The ID.3 C-segment hatchback, and the coming ID.4 SUV, use a specific new ‘skateboard’ platform called modular electrification platform (MEB) which is essentially suspension front and rear with an electric motor between the rear wheels, a flat battery pack in the middle with control electronics and cooling systems at the front plus, if needed, an additional electric motor for AWD without the complex mechanical drivetrain that goes with an ICE.
First out of the gate – there will eventually be a whole family of ID. EVs – is the Golf size ID.3 which has a flat floor and pretty much the interior room of a D-segment Passat – the amount of rear seat legroom is exemplary. Opening and closing doors, poking and prodding around the interior, the car doesn’t have the same hewn-from-the-solid feel of earlier Golfs but lightness is key with EVs and every component is shaved to the minimum. A German report a little while back was a bit sniffy about the quality of an early example but, had I paid GBP35,825 (after the GBP3,000 UK government EV bung, down from the GBP5,000 originally offered), I would not have had any complaints about panel fit, paint or interior finishing and there were no squeaks or rattles.
From a vast range of base models and factory options, two power outputs and three battery packs, VW GB launched the ID.3 with a well equipped 1st Edition with a 150kW/310Nm (at 16,000rpm!) electric motor, direct drive, single speed gearbox and a 58kWh battery pack. On a 100kW rapid charger it takes 30 minutes to recharge the battery pack from flat to 80%/180 miles, nine hours and 30 minutes to 100% using a 7.2kw single phase domestic wallbox and, I guess, about a day and a half using a 240v, 3-pin UK domestic plug. Lacking a wallbox, I simply plugged the ‘lecky VW in at home whenever I wasn’t using it and, as local runs never exceeded much more than 20 miles, the battery was restored to more or less full in a few hours. Official WLTP range is 260 miles but I never saw more than 200 on the available range display, with 182 a regular figure. This parallels previous experience with BEVs – your actual mileage may vary.
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By GlobalDataLike most EVs, the ID.3 is a hoot to drive, zooming away from the lights when the ‘go’ pedal is floored (1st Editions have ‘Play’ and ‘Pause’ pedals) and coasting quietly to an electricity generating halt, especially if ‘B’ is engaged to boost the regenerative braking. Handling is good and the ride (and seats) firm. The interior appears spartan because almost every control has been moved to a digital screen or haptic feedback button.
Hence my main gripe: I think the cockpit – which includes a digital instrument cluster – could use a few old fashioned redundant buttons or knobs. There is a start-stop button on the side of the steering column, a twist lever for ‘gear’ shift, a touch switch panel with a few presets for lights and demisting and the rest is either via or under a central tablet style screen or each side of the steering wheel. Temperature and volume can be controlled by touching or prodding ‘buttons’ or sliding a finger between up and down ‘buttons’ but I found these insensitive – volume went from quiet background to Ibiza nightclub level with fractional movement of a digit. You can set a proximity sensor but after numerous unintended responses I switched that off. There are also four buttons below the screen for direct access to such things as climate control, otherwise it’s swipe and prod the main screen. I’d like a volume knob and a button for steering wheel heat – the only way I could activate that was as part of a climate control option (automatic activation at low temperatures) and it could then not be turned off without also turning off seat heating. Delving thru a menu while driving is not a good idea – sometimes there is no substitute for an easily accessed on-off switch. As with some smartphones, menu options can be buried – I managed to change the colour of the ambient lighting and then couldn’t find the option again. The ‘switches’ immediately below the screen also need illumination.
One clever feature is ‘ID. light’ which is a full width strip below the windscreen which displays warnings (presumably in amber or red) and also helps with things like sat nav – blue indicating the direction you need to turn. It’s also supposed to show (in green) the state of charging but I only managed to get it to display that once. I still think the Leaf dashtop display of three sequential blue lights is the best – easily seen from inside the house. Of course, if you owned the ID., you’d download an app for that.
Boot space is generous – taking the standard full Roberts weekly shop without problem. Although a temporary spare wheel is optional in Germany, it’s not listed in UK and the test car lacked even any sort of repair kit – having only a screw-in tow loop. That would leave you with some roadside rescue services refusing to help so hopefully it was an accidental omission.
ID.3 is a great introduction to just how VW is approaching full electrics and is, even if my fussy family didn’t like it, a great first effort. 200 miles and a wallbox would cover almost all my motoring and the delivery drivers reckoned the growing UK BP Chargemaster network, which will take any credit card, is very good for recharging on longer trips with the proviso they are sometimes in privately operated, camera-controlled car parks where careful scrutiny of, and compliance with the terms and conditions is essential to avoid the extortionate GBP100 ‘parking charges’ usually levied for any minor breach of rules. In the case of my local one, which the drivers used to give me an almost fully charged ID.3, it’s in a hotel carpark so you go in and give the registration number to reception.
The ID.4 SUV has the same platform and dashboard with a larger interior and I am looking forward to seeing that in due course – maybe the SUV-loving family would give that the nod. ID.3 won’t be going to the US but the ID.4 is the ‘world model’ – it’ll be built there and in China as well as Germany where VW now has dedicated EV plants and builds much of the componentry itself, as it will also do in the US and China. EVs are developing apace – a decade ago it was the 100-mile range Leaf, today 200 miles seems to be the default minimum and there are battery pack choices – why pay for range you may never use? So what in five years? 300 miles? By 2030, when ICEs are banned here in the UK, 400? Bring it on.
