Automotive Engineering - November/December 2021 - 16

ROAD READY
VW adds traction in budding EV market with AWD for ID.4
To expand its market appeal and provide a healthy dose
of performance, Volkswagen is adding AWD to its global,
MEB-platform ID.4 EV SUV.
Volkswagen is adding all-wheel-drive
(AWD) to its all-electric C-class SUV,
the ID.4. This should make VW's swiftselling
submission in the world's most
popular vehicle segment even more
compelling, particularly when combined
with free charging promotions and applicable
state and federal tax credits no
longer available to other EV makers.
These factors place VW's projected
ownership costs below gasoline-powered
competitors such as Toyota's RAV4
and Honda's CR-V - with the ID.4 feeling
a size-larger from an interior-space
viewpoint. It also trumps the ownership-cost
structures of the ID.4's nearest
competitors, the Ford Mustang
Mach-E and Tesla Model Y.
VW showed off the new AWD ID.4
on the snaking roads surrounding
Chattanooga, Tennessee, where the
ID.4 will begin localized production in
2022 at the German automaker's
sprawling and expanding production
facility. The ID.4 is presently manufactured
in China and Germany (the current
source of U.S-bound vehicles),
where production first began at VW's
Zwickau facility in August 2020. The
ID.4 is Volkswagen's first all-electric
SUV, the brand's first global EV, and is
built on VW's MEB (modular electric
drive matrix) EV architecture.
16 November/December 2021
AWD, second motor, more power
The ID.4 launched with rear-wheeldrive
(RWD), so creating an AWD version
meant adding a second motor to
the front axle. At the rear is a singlespeed
AC permanent-magnet synchronous
motor located above the axle and
in front of the wheel centerline, producing
201 hp (150 kW) and 229 lb-ft
(310 Nm). VW claims more than 90%
efficiency for the rear motor, partially
due to hairpin windings of the square
copper wires used in the stator coils,
permitting tighter packaging to increase
power and cooling efficiency.
When traction requirements demand,
the ID.4 AWD can engage its
single-speed front asynchronous electric
motor within a few hundredths of a
second. The second motor produces
107 hp (80 kW) and 119 lb-ft (161 Nm),
with total system output SAE-rated at
295 hp (220 kW) and 339 lb-ft (460
Nm). VW claims a spritely 5.4-second
0-60 mph (0-97 km/h) time, which felt
easily authentic, and traction management
is prescient enough to eliminate
nearly any wheelspin, even when
launching on loose surfaces. The AWD
version also nets a Traction Mode that
locks the driveline into all-wheel propulsion
at speeds less than 12 mph (20
km/h), a potential boon for steep
driveways in colder climates.
Same battery, reduced range
The AWD ID.4 uses the same 82 kWh
(gross)/77 kWh (net), 1,087 lb (493 kg)
lithium-ion battery pack as the RWD
version, netting slightly lower EPA
range ratings: 249 vs. 260 miles (400
vs. 418 km). The modest range hit likely
speaks more to the AWD model's 223 lb
(101 kg) curb-weight gain than driveline
losses, as the savvy traction management
system only engages the front
Initial U.S. ID.4 production will arrive from Germany, in two heavily contented trims.
AUTOMOTIVE ENGINEERING
BOTH IMAGES: VW
Automotive Engineering - November/December 2021

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