All-electric Volkswagen ID.3 now on sale

Volkswagen has opened the European order book for its first fully-fledged electric car, which it has now also confirmed will be called the Volkswagen ID.3.

The ground-breaking new Volkswagen hatchback previously expected to be named the I.D. Neo, will cost less than €30,000 ($A48,000) in Germany, where it will hit showrooms in mid-2020.

While Australian sales of Volkswagen I.D. models aren’t likely before 2022, European customers have been asked for €1000 ($A1600) to reserve their place in the queue for the ID.3’s limited-edition First model, just 30,000 of which will be produced.

The Volkswagen ID.3 First will come complete with a year’s free charging on the Ionity high-speed charging network for up to 2000kWh.

Volkswagen board member for sales and marketing Jurgen Stackmann says the ID.3 will be carbon-neutral before it’s delivered to the customer.

A lifetime spent on solar, wind, nuclear or hydroelectric power would mean its only carbon emissions would come from its brakes and tyres.

People on the pre-booked list of 30,000 will be able to receive a full refund if they change their minds, though they’ll be able to order their cars after the ID.3 goes on sale at this year’s Frankfurt motor show in September.

All First edition orders will be locked in from April next year, with customers able to choose from four colours and three trim levels (First, First Plus and First Max), with its largest available wheel rims.

Volkswagen’s initial EV offering will concentrate heavily on countries with already-high EV acceptance and/or subsidies, so expect Norway, Sweden, the Netherlands, Denmark and Germany to be the initial pace-setters.

The production version of the hatch will be 4100mm long, 1800mm wide and 1530mm high, making it marginally bigger (155mm longer, 9mm wider and 77mm higher) than the current Golf.

The Volkswagen ID.3 will be built in the eastern German Zwickau factory, with Volkswagen aiming to deliver at least 100,000 cars next year before climbing slightly to 110,000 cars a year after that.

The plan is to offer the ID.3 with 45, 58 and 77kWh battery capacities to give it a range of showroom prices in much the same way different engine sizes and outputs deliver a range of prices in internal-combustion models.

That means calculated WLTP-rated ranges of 330km, 420km and 550km from each of them respectively, though Stackmann insisted the ID.3’s MEB skateboard architecture could swallow much bigger battery capacities than that.

The initial run of 30,000 ID.3 First models will all use the mid-level 58kWh lithium-ion battery pack mounted between the wheelbase, deep inside the floor.

It will also come with the full-length panoramic sunroof as standard, an augmented-reality head-up display and a 125kW charger.

Stackmann insists the 125kW charger will give it 260km of range in 30 minutes, though it has access to the full Ionity charging network in Europe and the Electrify America network in the United States.

Amongst its other claimed positives is that Volkswagen claims its running costs will undercut those of an equivalent internal-combustion car by 30 per cent.

“Part of the beauty of following Tesla is that we've seen positives and downsides,” Stackmann admitted.

“We want to make this car a normal experience as soon as possible; we don’t want people to sit in long queues for too long."

Set to be launched as a production car at Frankfurt, the ID.3 will have the same rough footprint as the current Golf, though it’s about the same size as the Passat inside.

It wears ‘3’ name to give Volkswagen space to slot two cheaper battery-electric cars beneath its maiden full-house electric car effort, as well as because Stackmann claims it’s the third step-change, after the Beetle and the Golf.

“It opens the third major chapter of strategic importance in the history of our brand, following the Beetle and the Golf,” Stackmann insisted.

“With the ID.3, we are making the electric car fit for mass mobility. The world is currently in a process of transformation. Volkswagen is not only part of, but is also shaping, this transformation.

“We are pursuing a focused powertrain strategy. Volkswagen has opted consistently for the battery-electric drive system. This is currently the most efficient technology for reducing CO2 emissions and meeting the ambitious CO2 reduction targets. E-mobility will become our lead technology.”

Volkswagen has booked the rights for ID.1 through to ID.10 to accommodate a sub-€20,000 ($A32,000) entry-level ID.1 from around 2023 all the way up to the Roomzz flagship SUV, the ultra-long Vizzion limousine, the Crozz SUV and the Kombi-recalling Buzz people-mover, though there’s no word on Dune Buggy Volkswagen debuted at Geneva in March.