Tesla’s dominance in the EV market has been dramatic over the last five years, though we finally are seeing other automakers start to chip away at that lead. Aside from Chinese brands, which aren’t available to many countries in the western hemisphere, Tesla has had the lion’s share of all the other electric vehicles sold. The chart below illustrates how much more Tesla sold than others in Q3 of 2022.
Fast forward a year, and several large automakers have started to try to catch up, releasing SUVs, trucks, and sedans that offer similar range at similar pricing.
VW’s ID.7 is their latest mainstream offering, a full-size sedan, which seems incredibly rare in a sea of crossovers. Below is their premiere video of the car.
With a streamlined, fastback sedan profile, the car has a very slippery drag coefficient, making its range up to an impressive 700 kilometers, or 435 miles. That matches or even beats gas car ranges, which shows just how far the technology has evolved.
“Some of the biggest updates can be found inside the ID.7, where VW has reimagined its cockpit design to include an augmented reality heads-up display. The digital gauge cluster is embedded in the dashboard behind the steering wheel. And physical buttons are continuing to be a thing of the past, with VW routing most of its controls through a central touchscreen (despite customers repeatedly expressing their preference for more tactile controls).”
“The 15-inch landscape-oriented screen has a brand-new menu system that keeps heating and cooling controls as well as seat ventilation on display at all times. Haptic sliders beneath the screen control the temperature, while a heated steering wheel can be turned on using voice activation.” -TheVerge
It remains to be seen if Volkswagen can catch Tesla at their own game, but with improved offerings like the ID.7, we imagine they’ll start to gain market share across the world.
The ID.7 goes on sale in China and Europe later this year, with sales in the US in early 2024.
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