The Volkswagen Group, which gave us the diesel scandal, has stopped downplaying electric vehicles and is fully embracing the electric future. Cars with plugs are available from VW itself, Audi, and Porsche. There’s no battery Bentley yet, but the brand will be all-electric by 2030, with the first plug-in model in 2025. There’s already a plug-in hybrid Bentayga. And ultra-exotic Bugatti? Well, 55% of it was just acquired by Rimac, which makes only electric cars.
What’s been missing from the marketplace is a truly affordable electric car. The Tesla Model 3, at under $40,000, is a huge hit, and we have the Chevrolet Bolt starting at $31,000. But how about a $23,000 Volkswagen? That’s the premise of the tiny electric SUV, I.D.Life, just unveiled at the Munich auto show in Germany.
“The I.D.Life is our vision of next-generation fully electric urban mobility,” VW said. “The concept car provides a preview of a I.D. model in the small car segment that we will be launching in 2025, priced at around 20,000 euros.” By 2030, VW aims to have a 70% electric fleet in Europe, and 50% in North America and China.
Volkswagen’s current offering in North America is the I.D.4 compact crossover, but that starts at a still-hefty $39,995 before income tax credits. The Life, which could be a production model in 2025 (in Europe, then here), would undercut not only that one, but also the ID.3 hatchback. That one sells in Europe for around $39,000.
The vehicle is no-frills.
VW
So what would you get for your money? The Life has 231 horsepower from a front-driven electric motor and should be fun to drive, as well as handy—with a 57-kilowatt-hour battery pack capable of giving it 249 miles of range in forgiving European testing. It’s an SUV in concept, but no off-roader. The habitat is the urban jungle.
The car is a no-frills box, with minimal ornamentation. I love the air-chamber textile roof panels made of recycled soda bottles. Taking them off turns the Life into something of a convertible. Rice husks and wood chips (for color) go into the car, too. That’s one part of sustainability—in Brazil, Mercedes used coconut husks (processed in small-is-beautiful workshops) to make sun visors and other parts for its a-Class hatchbacks.
The cabin in the show car looks very show car-ish, and impractical to the max. But all concept vehicles are like that. It’s designed to be “multi-functional,” meaning it can be turned into a movie theater or “gaming lounge” as you move the seats around. Both the front and rear seats can be completely folded down. A bed is possible too!
The interior is fanciful, but designed to be flexible.
VW
Only concept cars can have cameras in place of old-fashioned (but legally required) rear-view mirrors. All the driving is controlled via an inset touch panel on the steering wheel, and the system is designed to be integrated with a smartphone. That’s already happening, of course.
Some of this will be toned down by the time the Life reaches production, but it should be cool anyway. Remember when the Smart car was cool? The problem was that it only looked the part. Sure it was small, but also not particularly fuel-efficient. The Life, assuming it actually appears, should be much more useful as a green urban runabout.
According to Ralf Brandstätter, CEO of the Volkswagen brand, the intended buyers are just starting out. “In creating the ID.Life, we have consistently focused on the needs of younger customers,” he said. “We believe that, even more so than today, the car of the future will be about lifestyle and personal expression. The customer of tomorrow won’t simply want to get from A to B; they will be much more interested in the experiences that a car can offer. The ID.Life is our answer to this.”