The VW ID.3 now starts under £30k

The new model is the ID.3 Life Pro and it costs from £28,670 on the road after the Government has contributed its BEV grant of £3,000. New-gen bespoke battery electric cars using all-new architecture like the ID.3 normally come with heftier price tags.

So what do you get for your money? A power output of 145PS (107kW), torque of 270Nm (200lb ft), 0-62mph in 9.6 seconds and a 58kWh battery offering a range of up to 263 miles. VW likens power and performance to a former staple of the VW range and model that will be familiar to many from Golfs and the like, the 1.5-litre, 150PS TSI petrol engine.

With the ID.3 you also get a larger and more practical car than some of its sub-£30k rivals, along with a strong non-combustion engined design character. Like other ID.3s, the Pro model can be charged up to 80 per cent capacity in 35 minutes at a fast DC charger.

The latest version of the “electric people’s car” gives VW a wide ID.3 range, now spanning £28,670 to almost £40,000 with power up to 204PS (150kW) and offering a best 0-62 time of 7.3 seconds and larger batteries for up to 336 miles of range. There’s no ID.3 R version yet – that’s the one we are waiting for – but VW has confirmed a smaller-batteried 45kWh Pure model, presumably at a lower price again, is on the way.

January might have been this country’s worst month for new-car sales since 1970, but one glimmer of hope in that dismal fact is that a greater proportion than ever were battery-electric cars. Last year there were 22 electric offerings, now there are 40, and, as Volkswagen is showing with its new ID.3, prices are is coming down. The ID.3 Pro Life is available to order now.