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• Volkswagen has started production on its next fully electric vehicle, the ID.4.
• The new ID.4 will be manufactured at the Zwickau plant, and VW says production will be carbon-neutral.
• The ID.4 enters the world's largest growth segment, the compact SUV class.
Volkswagen's second fully electric model from its ID family enters series production at its Zwickau plant in Saxony, Germany.
The ID.4 is a compact SUV and will make its world premiere towards the end of September 2020. The ID.4 follows on from the ID.3, a Golf-sized hatchback EV shown at the Frankfurt motor show in 2019.
The VW Group is putting its money where its mouth is by investing €33-billion in the period to 2024 towards electric vehicles, €11-billion of which have been earmarked for the Volkswagen brand.
VW expects to produce 1.5 million electric cars in 2025.
"With the ID.4, Volkswagen is adding an all-electric vehicle to its offering in the compact SUV class, the world’s largest growth segment", Ralf Brandstätter, CEO of the Volkswagen brand, said.
"Following the ID.3, this is already the second model based on the modular electric drive matrix (MEB). Going forward, the car will be built and sold in Europe, in China, and later also in the USA. That is how we are scaling the MEB platform globally and laying the economic foundations for the success of our ID. family."
Image: Newspress
The Zwickau plant in Saxony has been is being entirely converted to e-mobility, with investments running at some €1.2-billion says VW. All conversion work will be completed as scheduled this year.
Production in Saxony is carbon-neutral and the electric SUV will be handed over to customers with a carbon-neutral footprint. VW says 'green' power is exclusively used in energy-intensive battery cell production for the ID.4.
From 2021 the plant will start producing EVs exclusively and around 300 000 electric vehicles based on the modular electric drive matrix (MEB) will leave the Zwickau plant.
It will become the largest and most efficient EV factory in Europe. Elsewhere in the world, pre-production of the ID.4 has already started at the Anting plant in China, the Chattanooga site in the United States will start the ID4 production in 2022.
VW's first all-electric SUV uses the company's modular electric drive matrix (MEB), this is an all-electric platform maximises the opportunities offered by e-mobility.
The car has a drag coefficient of 0.28 and scalable battery system, and has a claimed range of up to over 500 kilometers according to WLTP.
Initially the ID4 will only be available with rear-wheel drive from launch while an electric all-wheel drive version will be added a later date.
Like other EVs, the high-voltage battery is positioned in the sandwich-design underbody to create an optimum, low centre of gravity in terms of driving dynamics.
The cockpit of the zero-emission SUV is clearly structured and consistently digitalised; with operation largely via touch surfaces and intuitive voice control.
