VW’s ID.4 launch set to replace the e-Golf

Sales of the VW ID.4 are scheduled to start in Germany and several other European countries in the first week of January, as the union representative, the head of the works council Bernd Osterloh announced. Deliveries of the battery-electric SUV model are scheduled to begin in the first quarter and pre-orders are already being accepted.

While the European launch is being prepared already, the delayed launch for the US will still take place in March. Series production of the new Volkswagen BEV started in Germany last August, while production in China began just a few weeks ago. The launch edition of the MEB-based electric SUV runs on a synchronous rear motor producing 150 kW, featuring a maximum torque of 310 Nm and draws power from a battery with 77 kWh net capacity. In the upcoming spring 2021, an additional all-wheel-drive GTX version with an additional asynchronous motor on the front axle will be added, with an additional 75 kW and 151 Nm torque.

Regarding the range, the US Environmental Protection Agency certified a 250 mile range (402 km), while a test drive by electrive found a real-world value averaging closer to 345 km.

At the same time as the VW ID.4 celebrates its market birth, the VW e-Golf is to become history: The last unit of the small electric car rolled off the production line at the factory in Dresden on 23 December. At the beginning of the new year, the factory’s production area will be converted for three weeks before the first ID.3 series vehicles roll off the assembly lines in Dresden at the end of January.

The e-Golf was launched in 2013 and was produced in Wolfsburg until summer 2020. In 2017, the Transparent Factory started production in parallel to meet the high demand. According to VW, a total of 145,561 units left the two German production facilities in more than seven years. In terms of sales figures, the e-Golf is one of the most popular e-cars in Europe, especially among customers in Norway and in the German home market. Volkswagen and its subsidiary Skoda seem to be determined to get larger electric cars such as the ID.3 and the electric SUV the ID.4 on the road while taking their smaller counterparts off the market while leaving the manufacturing of smaller electric cars to factories in China.

Danny Auerswald, the factory boss of the ‘Transparent Factory’ in Dresden said: “The end of the e-Golf is also the start of the final preparations for the ID.3. In just a few weeks, we will be opening the next chapter for the Transparent Factory. After Zwickau, we are the second location in Europe to manufacture vehicles based on the new modular e-drive system.”

Meanwhile, Volkswagen is further underlining the importance of electric vehicle production in Saxony, by further expanding its charging infrastructure for electric vehicles at its three locations in Zwickau, Dresden and Chemnitz. At the end of 2020, 350 charging points are now active, which marks an increase of 150 compared with the same period last year. 215 of these are in Zwickau, 70 in Dresden and 65 in Chemnitz. In the coming year, Volkswagen Saxony will go one better and install a further 130 charging points in 2021 to bring the total number of charging points in operation at the three locations in Saxony to 480.

handelsblatt.com (in German, ID.4 launch), volkswagen-newsroom.com (e-Golf), volkswagen-newsroom.com (charging infrastructure)