Volkswagen ID.3
Built on an all-new modular electric drive platform (MEB) designed to underpin some 20 million members of VW’s forthcoming 70 model ID all-electric family by 2029, not only is this Golf-sized ID.3 VW’s first purpose-built electric vehicle, but -thanks to a factory that relies entirely on renewable sources of energy- it’s also delivered to customers as the company’s first carbon-neutral product.
And then, to paraphrase Frank and Nancy Sinatra, the punters go and spoil it all by recharging the ID.3 with electricity generated by a fossil-fuelled power station. In this context, claiming zero CO2 emissions because there isn’t even an exhaust pipe, let alone anything coming out of it, might be considered more than somewhat disingenuous…
Yet, thus far, only Mazda has put its hand up and suggested that, using a realistic well-to-wheel measurement, the average global CO2 emissions of an EV are actually a deal nearer 128 g/km than nought; the sort of figure currently all too familiar to drivers of diesel cars.
This news may not be quite as alarming as the woeful inadequacy of the nation’s recharging infrastructure with a scant nine years to run until our electric only forecourt future catches up with us, but it does lob further dollops of gristle into the blancmange spouted by the ecovangelists, who aver that we’ll all glide as seamlessly as blobs of mercury on a mirror into the mechanised hum of another world. And woe betide you if you beg to differ…
With rage in their eyes and their megaphones they will tell you that, actually, 60% of us live in homes which allow for EV recharging (seriously?); that, yes, fossil fuel-generated electricity may up EV emissions, but, actually, wind farms are becoming increasingly efficient, and prevalent; and that, actually, (unless you drive a Nissan Leaf boasting the Betamax of plugs) the recharging infrastructure is actually far more comprehensive, and faster than you suspect.
A cynic might actually be tempted to deploy that old adage about lies, damned lies and statistics…
Truth is, as we speak, the manufacturers are making a far better fist of arming us with the requisite product than the men in grey suits are of creating the environment in which we might satisfactorily use it.
And VW’s ID.3 is a case in point. Already the second best-selling car in Europe after the Golf, the ID.3 has been carefully styled not to frighten anybody with overt other-worldliness. Indeed, but for guillotine-short front and rear overhangs and the absence of a radiator grille, it could readily pass muster as a slightly wider, taller member of the Golf clan.
On board, however, things are somewhat more androids-dreaming-of-electric-sheep funked-up; the designers having clearly copped a good, hard rummage round BMW’s i3 before unleashing the orange trim, digital instrument binnacle that moves with the steering column adjustment, novelty multi-function ‘ID Light’ that spans the width of the windscreen base, quirky 3-D quadrilateral gear knob hidden behind the helm, and cheeky, Walkman-era Play and Pause symbols on the metal-faced pedals.
From the high-set driving position the whole looks pretty good and, but for that odd gear protrusion being obscured by the wheel rim and the tardiness of the 10-inch central touch-screen’s response to the stabbing finger, works pretty well too.
And there’s stacks of room on board. Combining a decidedly cab-forward windscreen and a high roofline with a wheelbase that’s almost 6-inches longer than that of a Golf, the ID.3 feels far more spacious -especially in the rear seats- even if presuming Passat parity is pushing it a tad too far. Moreover, despite the presence of an electric motor under the loadspace floor, luggage capacity is five litres up on the Golf to boot.
There’s no Start button and no handbrake; just sit down, belt up, twist the gear lozenge and off you go -with, it must be said, no little vim… Oomph on this 1st Edition specimen is provided by a 58 kWh battery powering a 201 bhp electric motor attached to the rear axle. And, because all 229 lb ft of torque is unleashed from zero rpm, shove is pleasingly instant and insistent in that strange, seamless, slightly elasticated manner unique to single gear electric vehicles.
Two thirds of the ID’s electronically limited maximum velocity comes up in just 7.3 seconds, and accelerative urgency doesn’t really start to diminish until you’re over the motorway speed limit.
For something weighing nearly 1800 kg and wearing 19-inch wellingtons, the ID.3 rides surprisingly well; a pleasing pliancy only succumbing to thump and clatter over the worst road surfaces. And you can certainly feel that weight when pressing on through corners – a seemingly unavoidable hallmark of most EVs. Despite which the VW’s a tidy enough steer, with a feeling of agility undoubtedly abetted by shunting the drive aft to leave the front axle untainted by torque.
In all, then, a properly pleasing package which ices the gently captivating cake further with a quoted range of some 260 miles. Indeed, those who opt for the more powerful 77 kWh battery pack are promised 340 miles between recharges -turf hitherto reserved for EVs branded Tesla.
£38,190 price tag aside, then, the only snag I can readily identify in the context of the ID.3 is recharging, particularly out here in infrastructure-free Mudfordshire, and even more particularly at ff-C Towers, where a three-pin domestic socket in the outside shed is as good as it gets.
The latter the car didn’t rub along with at all well, deciding after a scant 40 miles had been added to the range that enough was enough and disconnecting itself; a process it repeated three nights in a row. We don’t have range anxiety in my house, we have recharging anxiety. Be nice to think that, for this price, VW might throw in a three-phase charging post with every purchase. Especially at ff-C towers, where sequential overnights attached to a standard three-pin household supply never resulted in the addition of more than 40 miles of range before something in the system said ‘enough’, and simply refused to accept any more juice…
Good car, though. If the charging infrastructure ever catches up (and diverting the 100 billion plus destined for HS2 might be a worthwhile start), it could even catch on.