By James Stinson
Electric car sales are on the up but still account for just a fifth of new cars sold. Poor charging infrastructure, especially in Northern Ireland, is an issue but cost is likely the biggest impediment to take-up.
EVs are just more expensive to buy than petrol cars though not necessarily to run. The price gap is narrowing but for electric cars to become truly mainstream, we need more, small cheap electric cars. And the signs are good. Recent arrivals like the Renault 5 (£23,000), Hyundai Inster (£23,000), Citroen e-C3 (£21,000) and the Dacia Spring (£15,000) will help drive sales. More exciting still is a new baby EV from Volkswagen, the ID.1. Could this be the people’s EV?
It won’t reach showrooms for another two years but the German giant has given us a proper taster in the form of the ID.Every1 concept. Just as the ID.2All Concept reignited excitement around a new all-electric production supermini we’ll see later this year, the even smaller, cityfocused ID.Every1 is an even more ambitious project that’s promising an entry price of just £17,000.
While this is technically a concept car, VW says that it’s around 80 per cent relevant to the road car, with no major changes to the bodywork or styling. It will come with smaller wheels, bigger door handles and slightly different head and tail-lights, but in essence what you’re looking at is the new ID.1. The new city car is one of a clutch of fresh VW electric cars due by 2027. Others will include the Polosized ID.2All later this year, reboots of the ID.3, ID.4 and ID.5, plus an SUV and GTI variant of the ID.2All. The most ambitious of these new vehicles is the A-segment ID.Every1.
At 3,880mm long, the concept is around 280mm longer than the previous up!, largely because it now has to fit a battery pack between the axles. It will rely heavily on the revised MEB architecture that will be introduced with the ID.2, but Volkswagen has reduced the wheelbase by around 60mm, plus fitted a new e-motor, battery pack and rear axle. Some particularly expensive elements, such as the firewall, are shared for the sake of scale.
Volkswagen says there’ll be plenty of space inside for up to four occupants, plus a 305-litre boot, which is around 50 litres bigger than the one in the VW up!. The ID.Every1 rides on 19-inch wheels – these will be replaced by 18-inch rims for the production car – but the overall design seen on the concept will be put into production as is. Its downsized electric motor generates 94bhp, and is good for an 80mph top speed, while range is expected to be around 155 miles. That should be ample for a car that’ll be targeted at urban motorists.
There’s a lot riding on this and other EVs due out from VW over the next few years, not just for the electric vehicle sector but for the German car giant too. “The ID. EVERY1 represents the last piece of the puzzle on our way to the widest model selection in the volume segment. We will then offer every customer the right car with the right drive system – including affordable all-electric entry-level mobility,” says VW CEO Thomas Schäfer. “Our goal is to be the world’s technologically leading high-volume manufacturer by 2030. And as a brand for everyone – just as you would expect from Volkswagen.”