The upcoming Volkswagen ID 3 is tipped to be the big ‘mass market’ electric car the world needs, while the Tesla Model 3 has done an incredibly good job of bringing the price down to under £40,000 that is still too high for a lot of people but that hasn’t stopped it from being an incredibly well selling vehicle non-the-less. The upcoming ID 3 from Volkswagen is meant to be the third big step for Volkswagen, first was the Beetle, then it was and still is the Golf and now the third is the ID 3, hence the name.

Volkswagen has said it is now on track to start selling the ID 3 here in the UK starting in July, with the first deliveries due to start this summer too. The company has had some well covered software issues during the later development of the car, but despite this the company is still on track for July. Once the car has been on the market for a while, there will be three different battery options, but when it launches in the summer, only the ‘First Edition’ will be available, which sits in the middle of the range at 58kWh which gives the car 201bhp and a range of 260 miles. Due to the unique way electric cars are manufactured, the ID 3 is also rear wheel drive, which will mean more interesting handling than you get from a front wheel drive combustion car.

Volkswagen will have three different versions, the entry level 45kWh ID 3 which is touted to start at £27,500 in the UK, before the government grant which means it will be under £25,000. Volkswagen hasn’t released any range figures for the 45kWh version yet. The middle car has a 58kWh battery, with a range of 260 miles and the larger 77kWh version will have 340 miles of range.

Volkswagen has said the medium battery version (58kWh) supports quick charge of up to 100kW which can add 260 miles of range in just 30 minutes.

The ID 3 will come in four different colours, Makena Turquoise Metalic, Glacier White Metallic, Moonstone Grey Non-Metallic and Maganese Grey Metallic.

“The focus of the company now is on ID 3. We’re almost ready, and we just need a few more weeks to get the software to where we need it to be. The entire team are working on this topic, and we want to deliver a great quality product on time – and that time is this summer.”

Jürgen Stackmann, Volkswagen Sales Boss – UK