19. Volkswagen Electric Car
While Volkswagen’s newest electric car is not the most exciting visually, big things come in small packages. The iconic “people’s car” manufacturer is pegging their company’s future on a new class of high performance, but affordable electric rides for the masses. In the near future, Volkswagen plans to build an entire fleet of scalable EV’s from this design that match most compacts and full sedans in both performance and price.
Volkswagen’s Modular Electric Drive (MEB) platform sits beneath the I.D.’s body, which is designed from the outset as a battery-electric skateboard chassis. This dedicated EV platform allows the wheels to be pushed to the corners, leaving pleasantly short overhangs front and rear, and its rear-mounted electric motor affords greater room for the front wheels to turn more sharply than with a front-mounted powertrain.
As a result, the I.D. has a turning circle of just 32.5 feet. The tiny Smart Fortwo still has it beat with its 22.8-foot turning radius, but the Volkswagen is more than four and a half feet longer and rides on a 108.3-inch wheelbase (that’s 4.5 inches longer than the Golf’s). Other performance metrics include a claimed sub-8.0-second zero-to-60-mph time and a top speed of 99 mph. Volkswagen indicates that battery size and motor performance could be cranked up or down for better acceleration or additional range. Charging can be handled via a typical plug connector or, in the future, by means of an inductive charging pad theoretically capable of supplying an 80 percent charge in 30 minutes.