Volkswagen has recently been demonstrating the showroom-ready version of what could be its most important car so far this millennium. Called the ID.3, it looks quite a lot like an evolution of the Golf, which is hardly surprising considering that this is the model it’s meant to replace. However, the ID.3 is a battery electric vehicle (BEV) designed from the ground up to be a BEV, unlike the e-Golf, which has an electric drivetrain shoehorned into a vehicle originally meant for internal combustion engines.
The Volkswagen ID.3 may never be coming to the US, but it’s still the most important new car release … [+]
This is a very significant move, because it’s not just a new car; it’s the first example of a new platform that Volkswagen hopes will rejuvenate its fortunes after dieselgate, launching it forcefully into the increasingly electrified future. Volkswagen Group has a number of BEV platforms now, but the one in the ID.3, called MEB, is the most important because it is squarely targeted at the mainstream. MEB stands for Modularer E-Antriebs-Baukasten, a snappy term that translates from German to Modular Electric Propulsion Platform. MEPP sounds quite snappy too, but Volkswagen is still resolutely German, so MEB it is.
The ID.3 is just the first salvo. There’s an ID.4 crossover SUV in the works as well that will use MEB, a Transporter / camper van version currently called the ID. Buzz, another crossover called the ID. Crozz, an executive saloon called the ID. Vizzion, and even a beach buggy that has been named rather descriptively the ID. Buggy. Then there will be iterations coming from other brands within the Volkswagen Group, including Audi, SEAT and Skoda. The latter’s initial offering will be the enigmatically titled Enyaq.
The ID. Buzz will be a camper van based on the VW MEB platform. (Photo by Sjoerd van der Wal/Getty … [+]
As Porsche learned in the middle of the 1990s, having one platform that can spawn lots of different cars for different markets is the key to economically viable vehicle production. This is because it allows the manufacturer to be flexible with demand, using the same production lines to produce more or less of each vehicle model as the market dictates. In 1995, Porsche had three low-volume models on three different platforms (928, 968 and 911). By 1997 it had two based on one (Boxster and 911), and from then on it prospered after facing near bankruptcy.
But the more important aspect of MEB is that it’s designed around an electric drivetrain, which has very different characteristics to a fossil-fuel drivetrain. The latter has two heavy pieces – engine and gearbox – that are usually put together in the front of the car. Electric engines, however, are lighter and can be put right next to the wheels. The heavy bit is the batteries, weighing around 5kg (11lbs) per kW (and you need at least 50kW), but these don’t have to all be in once place. The best location is under the passenger compartment floor, which has the added advantage of lowering the center of gravity. In order to do this, the whole car chassis needs to be designed around this arrangement.
The MEB platform places the batteries beneath the passenger area on the car, saving space and … [+]
Without any legacy of previous car designs, Tesla
However, the launch of the ID.3 has not exactly been smooth. Back in February, it was rumored that just-manufactured ID.3s were having to sit in a parking lot after production to await a software update. This was accompanied by a delivery slip from April to June, which has now further slipped to September, and even this version will be missing core software connectivity features that won’t be available until cars due to ship at the end of the year arrive.
The first batch of ID.3s had to sit around waiting for a software update. (Photo by Sean … [+]
At the same time, there are stories of management troubles at Volkswagen AG, recounting how CEO Herbert Diess had been stripped of his direct control over the Volkswagen brand. Diess took over the reins in 2018 and helped Volkswagen move on from 2015’s dieselgate. One of his main strategies in this renewal was electrification, with the MEB platform as the jewel in the crown. Neither BMW nor Daimler AG have made such a bold move and look likely to suffer as a result. Dethroning Diess threatens the MEB strategy at a time when it is sorely needed to safeguard the future of Volkswagen and the viability of the German car industry in general as we accelerate towards electrification.
The news that Tesla had become the most valuable car company last week truly demonstrated how much is now at stake. Electric vehicles are no longer a niche hobby for environmental enthusiasts. They are a very viable, lucrative business to be in. With controversies still rocking the fossil-fuel vehicle industry, it’s only going to get more difficult to justify producing petrol and diesel cars. The manufacturers that will survive the coming decades are going to have to make a very serious bet on BEVs. Volkswagen has done so with MEB and its first-born, the ID.3. Even though there are currently no plans for this car to be sold in the US, its MEB siblings will be, and Volkswagen needs to see off the Tesla onslaught in Europe first anyway. The jury’s still out whether it will succeed, but at least it’s in with a fighting chance.
