Volkswagen ID.Life previews ID.2
Smallest model yet to appear on Volkswagen’s MEB EV platform packs a 34-inch projector screenA 34-inch projector screen is one of the first signs that the Volkswagen ID.Life isn’t just another car off the German car-maker’s Modular Electric Matrix (MEB) platform that spawned the ID.3 hatch and ID.4 compact SUV.
Rolling down from above the windscreen, the electric car’s screen is designed to play games or movies while viewers sit in the rear, with the front seats folded down to act as leg rests.
It’s a far cry from the traditionally stodgy feel of other Volkswagen EV launches, with a padded bonnet and a personalised folding roof adding to the sub-$30,000 EV’s funky feel.
The silhouette, though, has all the hallmarks of a modern hatch, though higher riding to accommodate its battery pack under the floor.
It will pop, too, with 172kW of power making it about as quick around town as a Volkswagen Golf GTI.
“The ID.Life is our vision of next-generation fully electric urban mobility,” Volkswagen brand CEO Ralf Brandstätter said.
“The concept car provides a preview of an ID model in the small car segment that we will be launching in 2025, priced at around €20,000 [$A31,900]. This means we are making electric mobility accessible to even more people.”
The Volkswagen ID.Life is pitched squarely at a far younger buyer profile than the ID.3 and ID.4, too.
“In creating the ID.Life, we have consistently focused on the needs of younger customers,” said Brandstätter.
“We believe that, even more so than today, the car of the future will be about lifestyle and personal expression.
“The customer of tomorrow won’t simply want to get from A to B; they will be much more interested in the experiences the car can offer and the ID.Life is our answer to this.”
Powered by a single electric motor on the front axle, the ID.Life will reach 100km/h in around 6.9 seconds, Volkswagen claims, and will stretch out to 400km on the WLTP cycle thanks to a relatively small 57kWh battery.
Its interior takes a leaf from the BMW i3, being almost totally recyclable, with even wood in the clear coat for the body and an air chamber material for the roof and the bonnet made from recycled PET bottles.
There is wood in the dash and the rear seat surrounds, while it also uses bio-oil, natural rubber and rice husks in the tyres.
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