VW lauds ID.7 range

German OEM Volkswagen has revealed that an all-electric 86kWh battery ID.7 Pro S — admittedly driven by a team led to by a so-called ‘hypermiler’ expert in energy-efficient driving — covered 794km on a single battery charge, “significantly exceed[ing]” the vehicle’s maximum WLTP range of up to 709 km.

VW reports that the car was driven during the day on a defined route in actual traffic, which included both main through-roads and motorway sections, by an eight-person Volkswagen Team Switzerland headed by project lead Felix Egolf, an expert in long-distance driving with electric cars. Net driving time was 15 hours and 42 minutes over the course of two days, at an average speed of 51 km/h.

The vehicle was driven on a c.81km circuit around the Zug metropolitan area south of Zurich. The route profile was in line with everyday driving and included main through-roads, motorway sections and country roads with hilly transitions.

The 794km travelled is, VW notes, roughly equivalent to the route from Basel in Switzerland to Emden in northern Germany, where the ID.7 is built. Average consumption was what it terms “an exceptionally low” 10.3 kWh/100km. In comparison, the lowest WLTP value of the model is 13.6kWh/100km. Converted to diesel, the average consumption achieved corresponds to c.1.1l/100km.

Hypermiler

In 2020 and 2021, the slightly ironically named Egolf (given VW does not produce such an EV when many analysts think it should) completed two record-breaking drives in VW's ID.3: significantly exceeding its theoretical range by covering 531km from Zwickau in Saxony, Germany to Schaffhausen, Switzerland; and, with a larger battery, piloting an ID.3 Pro S to a total of 602km on a single charge across 15 Alpine passes and 13,000m of altitude.

VW says the ID.7 Pro S offers “excellent” aerodynamics, with a drag coefficient of 0.23 depending on equipment. Again depending on optional equipment, a combined WLTP consumption of 16.2-13.6kWh/100 km has been determined for the ID.7 Pro S. With the most range-favourable equipment, the WLTP range is up to 709km.

VW also trumpets the vehicle’s charging times — in 10 minutes, energy for c.244km flows into the battery at 200kW charging power. In c.26 minutes, it can therefore be charged from 10pc to 80pc.

The optional electric vehicle route planner in the ID.7 can also assist its energy efficiency performance. It calculates an optimum route taking into account current battery charge and available charging stations along the route, showing the driver the best charging points and planning the necessary charging stops to make the journey efficient. It also takes real-time traffic data into account to find the fastest and most convenient route.