Fully Charged Checks Out VW ID Life At IAA 2021

Volkswagen is previewing a new affordable model with this concept.

idlife fullycharged

Andrei Nedelea

By: Andrei Nedelea

Sep 16, 2021 at 10:22am ET

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Electric vehicles are still more expensive than their fuel-burning counterparts, but Volkswagen wants to bring EV cost down. Its ideas of how to do it are concentrated in the new ID. Life concept that the German giant showed at IAA Mobility 2021 last week.

We were there to see it in the metal, but only had time to take some photos that you can check out in the gallery below. The Fully Charged Show, though, dedicated an entire video to the little affordable VW EV and if you wanted to know more about it, their video compiles all the key pieces of information and also gives you a peek inside.

The ID. Life is VW’s idea of what a small electric crossover costing €20,000 - €25,000 could look like. It rides on a version of the MEB platform specifically redesigned to be used for smaller (and cheaper cars, called MEB Lite) and it allows for rear-wheel drive or all-wheel drive variants.

Volkswagen wants to bring the production version of the concept to market in 2025 and it’s targeting young urbanites who don’t want the longest range EV. The vehicle shown at IAA had a 62 kWh battery pack (good for 400 km / 249 miles WLTP) and a claimed acceleration time to 100 km/h (62 mph) in 6.9 seconds.

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Following the trend that has permeated the industry in the last decade, Volkswagen opted to make this vehicle a crossover with 19 cm (7.5 inches) of ground clearance. It even has a 26° front approach angle and a 37° rear departure angle, so it should be about as good off-road as the larger ID.4.

The final point that VW wanted to make with ID. Life was encouraging the use of more recycled materials. This was a theme at IAA, also promoted by other concepts including the BMW i Vision Circular - ID. Life’s entire (removable) roof is made from recycled plastic bottles.

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