Remember when Volkswagen spent 25 years pretending (one could argue lying) by repeatedly claiming their diesel engines were the cleanest in the business? This is similar to Donald Trump referring to the coal industry as “beautiful and clean”. Well, Volkswagen is claiming the new breed of VW electric cars will offer a total range of up to 435 miles (700km) by 2023. Is that true? After dieselgate can we trust Volkswagen? The truth is in the detail, more specifically the term “up to”. The term “up to” is widely employed in business and sales as a kind-of verbal small print. 

That is to say, the Volkswagen ID 6 pure electric saloon could achieve 435 miles of range but it’s probably, maybe dependent on how the car is driven, the temperature, the topography. In other words the term “up to” allows VW to stretch the truth as far as it can and it allows the marketing team to get very… let’s say creative. The Tesla Model S Long Range offers the most range of any current electric car at 379 miles.

The ID 3 offers a range of 200 miles. The ID 3 is indicative of Volkswagen being behind the EV technological development race. It’s taken Tesla 15 years to offer an EV range of 379 miles, so how does VW plan to improve its electric vehicle range by 50 percent in 3 years from now? All we know thus far is that the ID 6 Saloon will be offered with a hefty 84kWh battery pack. 

Range anxiety is a major factor in deciding on an electric car purchase. How is Volkswagen going to achieve the 400 mile plus EV range? Not even Tesla has managed such a feat. But Volkswagen is happy to reveal the ID 6 will be set for production in 2023. And it will not have reverse-opening rear doors, when it comes to production reality VW will always go for the most cost-effective production regime.

The 400 mile range is not an impossibility, believing Volkswagen is.