Cheapest VW ID.3 electric car to start from under £30,000

Volkswagen has confirmed its first fully purpose-built electric family car will cost from less than £30,000… but only just, for now.

The current entry-spec ID.3 Life will be priced at £29,990, inclusive of the taxpayer funded grant of £3,000 paid towards the purchase of new battery-electric vehicles – though cheaper versions will arrive in 2021, VW has promised.

It has confirmed seven new variants of the Golf-sized plug-in car that will be available in the UK, with driving ranges of 258 miles to a Tesla-Model-3-rivalling 336 miles from the top-of-the-line £40,000 Tour edition.

VW’s electric family car comes under £30,000: The ID.3 Life will become the most affordable version of the new Golf-sized hatchback, priced at £29,990 including the Government’s plug-in vehicle grant

The earliest cars on sale – called the 1st Edition – have been available to order since July, priced from £35,880 with the Government’s Plug-in Car Grant subsidy.

First deliveries of these cars arrived on British shores at the beginning of September, though patient customers waiting for the UK line-up of specifications to be announced have had to wait until now to make their decision about which version to go for. 

UK customers will be able to place their orders for these cars from 20 October, the German maker confirmed on Wednesday.

Six of the models – including the £29,990 ID.3 Life – use the same 58kWh battery and 201bhp electric motor featuring in the 1st Edition examples, while the top-spec ID.3 Tour has a higher capacity 77kWh battery.

It means that the six cars with the smaller of the two batteries have ranges of 258 to 263 miles, dependent on wheel size.

Six of the latest models – including the £29,990 ID.3 Life – use the same 58kWh battery and 201bhp electric motor featuring in the 1st Edition examples 

The just-announced top-specification ID.3 Tour has a higher capacity 77kWh battery with a range of up to 336 miles, VW says

These versions will go into direct competition with the most affordable Tesla Model 3 sold in the UK, the Standard Range Plus, which currently costs £40,490 and has a claimed range of 254 miles.  

The smaller battery will be able to receive 100 kW charging, which can boost it from 5 to 80 per cent charge in 35 minutes, providing around 180 miles of range.

From a standard 7.2kW AC socket, VW expects it to take 9 and a half hours to charge from empty to full.

The remaining variants are: Style, Business, Family, Tech and Max. All are tailored to offer slightly different styling and comfort packages to suit customers.

Commenting on the new entry price for ID.3, Tim O’Donovan, EV product marketing manager at Volkswagen UK, said: ‘The ID.3 Life represents an affordable way for many people to take the leap into emission-free motoring.’ 

Inside, all will have at least a 10-inch touch screen, keyless start and the ID.Light interior system that alerts the driver and passenger if there are any immediate risks

The performance figures of the new cars puts the ID.3 into direction rivalry with Tesla’s Model 3, which has become the UK’s best-selling zero emissions cars of 2020

The priciest of all the ID.3s is the £39,290 Tour, which has a whopping official driving distance of 336 miles between charges. 

This hauls VW’s first purpose-built family electric car into contention against the long-travelling Tesla Model 3 variant.

The US firm’s Performance and Long Range Model 3s have official ranges of 329 and 348 miles respectively – though the latter come at a premium of £16,500 over the comparative ID.3. 

Only the Tesla Model 3 Long Range and pricier Tesla Model S – which starts from £75,000 – have longer quoted ranges than the electric VW. 

The ID.3 Tour’s bigger capacity battery can also take charge from 125kW devices, and a rapid charge can replenish up to 80 per cent in 38 minutes to provide an estimated 217 miles of range. 

The Tesla Model 3 Long Range can cover a claimed 348 miles on a full charge and costs £46,990. The VW ID.3 Tour almost matches that, but costs £7,000 less

The earliest version of the all-new VE ID.3 on sale – called the 1st Edition – have been available to order since July and arrived in the UK early last month

Next year, Volkswagen will introduce more specifications to the range, all of which will use a smaller 45kWh battery and will be priced below the ID.3 Life.

This should bring closer price parity between electric vehicles and a like-for-like alternative with a petrol or diesel engine.

The latest Golf Mk8 – which is very similar in dimensions and interior space to the new ID.3 – costs from £23,300 in the same Life trim, which is £6,690 less than the plug-in model. With cheaper variants in 2021, that gap will close.  

UK customers will be able to place their orders for the new specification ID.3s from 20 October, the German maker confirmed

Volkswagen has also promised to launch even cheaper versions in 2021, though with smaller capacity engines and shorter ranges on a full charge

This is the current entry-level Volkswagen Golf Life. The 1.0-litre petrol with 109bhp and a 6-speed manual transmission costs from £23,300

As standard, all seven newly launched ID.3 models will feature LED headlights, adaptive cruise control, lane assist, VW’s own Car2X communication system between compliant vehicles, voice control, parking sensors front and rear, and wheels no smaller than 18 inches. 

Inside, all will have at least a 10-inch touch screen, keyless start and the ID.Light interior system that alerts the driver and passenger if there are any immediate risks.

This post first appeared on Dailymail.co.uk