When Jason Fenske from Engineering Defined received his palms on the brand new Volkswagen ID.4, he wished to make a video about how one can now journey cross nation in one thing aside from a Tesla. However, he did not due to some points he bumped into.
As he states, lots of the issues he did not like may and doubtless will probably be resolved with future updates. However till then, he prefers his Tesla Model 3 for highway journeys.
The problems began at his first go to to an Electrify America charging station. His charger received caught within the port and he had a tough time unlocking it. The second time round, he picked the fallacious charger and needed to restart. However these two experiences are irrelevant.
When charging a Tesla at a Tesla station or Mach-E at an Electrify America station, it is mainly plug and play. That is not the case with the ID.4 (see above). Additionally, the navigation device that helps information you to charging stations throughout a highway journey is fairly horrible. Not solely does it exclude Electrify America stations, however the system additionally navigates you to gradual chargers that will take 10 hours for a full cost (see beneath).
He states on the finish of the video that this would possibly not have an effect on homeowners who cost at dwelling and do not plan to take highway journeys. He likes lots in regards to the ID.4 (see beneath), together with its charging velocity, however says it lags behind different EVs for now.
Jason makes some good factors. People who find themselves new to EVs aren’t going to love the additional steps on the charging station and Volkwagen must do one thing in regards to the navigation system. You should not have to make use of third-party apps to seek out charging stations anymore. If large automakers are going to persuade People to go electrical, they should make it straightforward for homeowners.