The decisions of Volkswagen's product planners are transparent only to those in the halls of Wolfsburg, but the decision to push the ID.4 into showrooms solely as a rear-wheel-drive car seems, well, unfortunate. Americans, after all, are ga-ga for AWD; even if a good set of snow tires will provide more help for many drivers, the added grip of four driven wheels instead of two provides peace of mind in addition to extra traction for accelerating and turning.
And for electric cars, all-wheel-drive often provides benefits it wouldn't in a gas-powered car. Since most EVs achieve AWD simply by adding a second motor, thereby boosting their power; and as Tesla demonstrated with the first AWD Model S, having two motors can actually make an EV more efficient during crusing and other low-load maneuvers.
Yet the first ID.4s to go on sale only send power to the rear wheels. Motivation comes from a 201-horsepower, 228-lb-ft motor mounted at the rear axle. (An all-wheel-drive version making 301 horsepower is coming, VW says, but not until Q4 of 2021.)
The ID.4's aft-mounted electric motor isn't a wimp; acceleration is satisfactory for a compact crossover, and it even feels peppy around town due to the instantaneous response. Still, 82 kWh of lithium-ion batteries aren't light; this compact VW weighs in at around 4,700 pounds, so once you add in two occupants, you're at or over two and a half tons.
Range, certainly, shouldn't be a problem. The EPA says the ID.4 should do around 250 miles on a charge, and while I didn't have a chance to road trip it, I saw no evidence to dispute that; the car showed up at my doorstep with a claimed 230 miles available after the 20-ish mile drive from the press fleet garage.
As with all electric cars, though, filling up on the go is still not quite where it needs to be. Every ID.4 gets three years of free charging on VW's Electrify America network, which can take the car from 5 percent to 80 in a claimed 38 minutes on the 150-kW plugs. Still, that network's chargers are congregated along major highways and around (but not necessarily in) cities — and a substantial number are in the middle of Walmart parking lots, so hope you like browsing superstore aisles while you wait for your car to charge.
And the more prevalent Level 2 chargers commonly installed at places like grocery stores and malls so they seem EV-conscious simply don't have enough power to add significant range in the amount of time drivers use them. I plugged the ID.4 into an L2 charger at 3:32pm with 74 percent in the battery; when I came back 55 minutes later, having done my leisurely grocery shopping and dallied through the liquor store, the car was at...78 percent. "It's the thought that counts" is a nice saying, but it won't help cram electrons into the car any faster when you're 100 miles from home and the only charger around will take five hours to add that much range.
As I've previously said, this isn't a specific problem with this electric car — it's a common compromise that exists for all of them, and one that will be rectified in the next couple years.
And then there’s the price. At $39,995 plus destination, the base ID.4 is priced at almost exactly the average new car price — one of the very few EVs capable of offering 200+ miles of range at that price. A starter Mustang Mach-E costs $42,895 before destination, and only offers 230 miles of claimed range; the Hyundai Kona EV and Kia Niro EV start at $37,190 and $39,090 before destination, respectively, but while both offer comparable range to the VW, they also suffer from designs that are less appealing than the ID.4 boasts. Train your gaze solely on early-2021-vintage EVs, and the ID.4 seems solid.
Viewed with a wider lens, however...it’s hard not to see this tiny, 201-hp crossover as the most expensive vehicle in the Volkswagen lineup. Cross-shop it against anything besides the limited number of comparable EVs, and the ID.4’s case starts to weaken. VW itself admits the ID.4 is the size of a Tiguan (at least inside), but its pricing is more in line with mid-to-high-level trims of the significantly larger Atlas.
And once you start looking at other family crossovers, it’s even more difficult to justify the price. A loaded Honda CR-V Hybrid still gets 38 mpg combined, leaves you without any charging anxieties, and costs almost $10,000 less to start. The Toyota RAV4 Prime is only a tad cheaper than the ID.4, but is quicker, roomier — and if your daily commute is less than 40 miles, you’ll use as much gas most days as you would in the VW, which is to say nil. And both of those offer all-wheel-drive right now, rather than leaving you waiting six months or more for your sure-footed crossover.
(What about that much-ballyhooed $7,500 tax credit? Well, that can help, of course...but keep in mind, it only applies against your taxes owed for the year you buy the car — you can’t convert any of that into a refund. If you don’t owe at least $7,500 come April 15, you’re not gonna see the full benefits — and if you owe nothing or get money back, you’ll pay full price. If you’re buying an EV, you better change your withholding as soon as you take delivery.)
Bottom line: with the ID.4, you’re still paying a premium to go electric — even if it’s less of a sacrifice than it once was. Even a with range that are closing on comparable to ICE cars and all the advantages EVs have over gas-powered rides (reduced maintenance, thrilling torque, the ability to add range at home overnight), the ID.4 still doesn’t quite feel quite able to make a strong enough case for itself without resorting to the virtue-signaling tact of “it’s better for the planet” — which electric cars will need to be able to do if they’re ever to achieve widespread success.
Then again, this is Volkswagen’s first crack at a modern electric car, and they don’t exactly have a reputation for giving up. I feel pretty confident saying the next ID will be even better, and the following one better still. Give it a few years, and I’m betting the reasons not to choose an electric Volkswagens will be vastly outweighed by the reasons to do so – regardless of green cred.