VW’s new electric car poses design challenge
Architecture, autonomous features will change the way we think about cars
In about 18 months, Volkswagen will begin volume production of the electric ID hatchback it previewed as a concept car during the 2016 Paris auto show.
The company has already locked in the design, and it has hand-selected the suppliers that will participate in the project.
Insiders suggest the Golf-sized model hasn’t drastically changed in its transition from a design study to a production model, though features like the camera-based mirrors and the power-retractable door handles didn’t make the cut.
The ID — a name Volkswagen likely won’t retain — will ride on the modular MEB platform. It’s an architecture developed exclusively to underpin electric vehicles. Think of it as a skateboard. It’s built around a relatively large lithium-ion battery pack that occupies most of the space between the front and rear axles and, in its standard configuration, a single electric motor stuffed under the trunk floor.
“It took a while until the design team could reconfigure its styling principles. Designers always had too much visual gravity in the rear, which they normally needed to outbalance the front overhang. There’s no need for that anymore,” explains Christian Senger, Volkswagen’s head of e-mobility.
It’s not just the rear-mounted motor that forced designers to change their perspective. The ID will run exclusively on electricity. Volkswagen won’t offer a version of the car that burns gasoline, not even one with a range extender. While electric vehicles still need cooling air, they normally require less of it than comparable models powered by an internal combustion engine. They can consequently settle for a much smaller grille opening, or even one hidden.
Volkswagen then tossed another factor into the equation. It’s safe to assume the ID will receive some degree of autonomy during its life cycle. It’s too early to say when, where or how much, but it will happen. So, while there’s no grille, designers needed to find a way to integrate the sensors the car relies on to brake, steer and accelerate.
Drawing the interior presented similar challenges.
“We are used to sitting in cars more or less surrounded by a door and a console in the middle of the cabin,” Senger says. “Everything that’s touchable is right in front of us. But then, with this new technology we are able to make the floor flat, which clears up a lot more space.”
He stops short of telling us what the production car’s interior looks like, though it’s reasonably safe to assume it will look more advanced than what we’ve become accustomed to seeing in a Golf or a Jetta.
We’ll learn more about the Volkswagen ID in the coming months as production nears. It’s a massive undertaking for the Wolfsburgbased firm. It’s also a new platform, a new powertrain, and new technology. Getting it right the first time is immensely important.
“I think everybody is learning,” Senger says.
Driving