The recent unveiling of a small electric Volkswagen has hinted at the future development of European electromobility. It will not be about high-end technology or bold designer creations, but mainly about the purchase price. Only if it is sufficiently attractive will Europeans take the electric car at their mercy.
The significance of that premiere can best be gauged by the hours. It took almost 35 minutes before the main star of the evening, the Volkswagen ID.2all, finally appeared on stage amid flashes of laser lights. Until then, the milestones of the Wolfsburg car company’s history paraded in front of the audience: Beetle, Bulli, Golf, Passat… Yes, almost all of them were there.
And then he came, Volkswagen, which is to write history again. Judging by the embarrassed applause from the audience present, it seemed as if something a little different was in store. When the swirl of lights stopped, a fairly ordinary car stood on the stage, which could easily be a successor to the established Polo. The first detail that cannot be overlooked: no electric retractable handles, but good old handles. In short, “Volkswagen at first glance”, as Thomas Schäfer, the brand’s new boss, emphasized several times during the evening.
While up until now car companies have been able to rely on a combination of well-off trend hunters and generous government support to build their electric models, the coming years are going to be really tough. Satisfied owners of internal combustion cars will also have to be convinced of the benefits of electromobility, as subsidy taps gradually dry up. It certainly won’t work without affordable cars.
A new study by the German advertising server Autoscout24 proves that it will not be an easy task anyway. The current high electricity prices and the reduction of the state subsidy for electric cars led according to conclusions of the study to reevaluate the view of the electric car among 40% of the respondents. They would now consider buying an electric car only on the assumption that electricity prices will drop. For quite a few of them, the return of high state support, which until recently reached eight thousand euros, i.e. almost 200 thousand crowns, is also important. This amount was deducted from the list price of the new car, and some electric models were thus no more expensive than their combustion counterparts.
Despite generous subsidies and the fact that our western neighbors have the densest network of charging stations in Europe, currently driving only 1.37% of Germans use an electric car. And that’s something that must make the captains of the auto industry nervous. Already because Germany is the most important market of the EU countries and to a large extent it is supposed to determine trends.
So it is no coincidence that today we already know the price for the Volkswagen ID.2all, which is not expected to enter the market until 2025 – it will cost 600,000 crowns. And it is no coincidence that Thomas Schäfer casually mentioned at the premiere of the new product that a year later a slightly smaller, and thus cheaper, Volkswagen will be added: the ID.1 will cost 20,000 euros, i.e. some 480,000 crowns.
While Volkswagen is famous for releasing trial balloons into the media space, other automakers are quietly preparing for the near future. Renault, for example, does not make any great hype with the return of its “five” in electric form, yet its premiere announced for next year may bring surprises. It is rumored that the price will be very low in order to flood the planned Volkswagens. Which is remarkable also for the reason that the small Zoe model, which is to replace the Renault 5, is currently sold by the carmaker for more than a million crowns.
Mladoboleslavská Škoda will use a common platform with Volkswagen ID.1 in 2026 and will build an urban SUV on it. The electric Citigo will thus receive its successor, and quite possibly at a similar price with which it left the market prematurely in 2021. That is half a million crowns.
Toyota, which has delayed the introduction of battery models for a long time, wants to release a small electric car to the world next year. It should be similar to the Cologne Ayga X and cost 600,000. Seat will also present its city electric car in 2025 for a similar price.
The price battle in the segment of small electric cars is therefore behind the door, but for now the market is calm before the storm. By far the cheapest electric car motorists can currently buy is the Dacia Spring. The Romanian car company values the small car with Chinese roots at 538,400 crowns.
