Volkswagen’s electric ID.4 was already good—does AWD change that?

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  Do cars like the VW ID.4 spell the end of the gas station? [credit:
  Jonathan Gitlin ]

CHATTANOOGA, TENN.—Volkswagen in 2021 seems like a rather different company than Volkswagen circa 2015. The company has transformed itself in the wake of dieselgate, and it’s found forgiveness in the arms of American consumers as evidenced by skyrocketing SUV sales. VW has also thrown itself wholeheartedly into electrification, applying the approach of a highly modular platform that can be used to build a range of battery electric vehicles including hatchbacks considered too small for the US and that electric bus everyone loves so much.

In North America, the ID.4 is the tip of the electric spear, an electric crossover that’s pitched perfectly at our automotive mode du jour. We’ve already driven the ID.4 a couple of times: briefly as a pre-production prototype, then for a couple of days on home turf. It wasn’t particularly flashy, and there were a couple of things that needed tweaking. Yet, overall, we were impressed. (And we weren’t alone.)

At launch, the ID.4 was only available in a single configuration: an 82 kWh (gross, 77 kWh useable) lithium-ion battery powering a 201 hp (150 kW), 229 lb-ft (310 Nm) permanent magnet synchronous electric motor at the rear axle. But American car buyers like power, and they love all-wheel drive (for potentially misguided reasons about traction and grip, but that’s neither here nor there).