The ID.3 débuts at the IAA in Frankfurt, marking the beginning of a new era for the brand, for the Group and for e-mobility as a whole.
“For Volkswagen, the ID.3 is much more than just a new model.” This is how the CEO of Volkswagen Group, Herbert Diess, described the unveiling of the Wolfsburg-based manufacturer’s latest vehicle.
A historic momentThe launch of the ID.3, scheduled for mid 2020, will be a turning point for Volkswagen, comparable with the launch of the Beetle, and more recently the Golf. The first electric vehicle based on the modular MEB platform has incredible potential: its characteristics will help electric vehicles to escape from the niche they have been confined to until now, making them accessible to a greater number of people and thus driving the spread of what is, to all effects, a new concept of mobility. |
Carbon neutral
Designed as an electric vehicle from the ground up, on a platform developed specifically for this drive type, with a range of up to 550 km and with provision for 125 kW charging, the Volkswagen ID.3 will go on sale at a base price of below 30,000 Euros. Fully connected and equipped with genuinely cutting-edge technological solutions – for example, the augmented-reality head-up display – it will lead the way for the other members of the ID. family and further models from other Group brands, such as SEAT and ŠKODA, which will soon follow. But, above all, it will be the first vehicle which is completely carbon neutral as it comes off the production line. Only clean energy will be used to manufacture the battery cells and the vehicles themselves, and at the end of their lives the batteries will be reused or recycled. Emissions which cannot be avoided will be offset by investing in environmental protection projects. The first of these was started up recently in the rainforests of Borneo.
Decarbonisation
The primary goal of the Volkswagen Group is, indeed, to become completely carbon neutral by 2050, in line with the targets set out by the Paris Climate Agreement – and to do so, it has launched a comprehensive decarbonisation program, which takes into account not only car production, but also all the other aspects of its business.
The electric vehicle as the most efficient solutionElectric mobility is the best and most efficient way to reduce CO2 emissions in a sustainable manner and therefore reach the target: over a life cycle of 200,000 km, an electric car generates around half the CO2 emissions of an ICE car, as long as it is powered with green electricity. It is precisely for this reason that it is essential to abandon fossil fuels and increase the percentage of renewables in the energy mix to ever-greater levels: this is the only way that e-mobility makes sense. |
Industry, politics and societyThe spread of electric mobility can only be the result of combined work by car manufacturers, the political forces governing countries, and individual citizens, who must however be placed in the position of choosing an electric vehicle. In his speech in Frankfurt, the Volkswagen Group’s CEO, Herbert Diess, identified four areas of improvement to meet this goal. The first is the optimisation of energy availability, without wastage – and from this point of view, V2G (vehicle-to-grid) could be decisive; the second is the creation of an adequate charging infrastructure; the third is the need to keep purchase and operating costs down, partly thanks to the introduction of appropriate government incentives; finally, the fourth is a taxation system which makes the advantages to electric car owners clear. |
“The car has a great future ahead of it: it will be ever cleaner and safer,” Diess concluded. “At the same time, it will continue to satisfy needs which are always relevant and current: self determination, freedom and technological progress.”
