The concept Volkswagen ID. R could feature new secret batteries

Knowledge of the high-performance battery of the Volkswagen ID. R concept will be key to the new sports vehicle of the ID family, and the upcoming Audi TT could be previewed.

Volkswagen is planning a new advanced electric sports car intended to act as a showpiece for a limited range of performance-based ID R road cars due to enter production by the middle of the decade.

The new flagship model from Volkswagen has been conceived as a coupé and roadster, according to highly placed sources at Volkswagen, and will be based on the skateboard-style MEB platform of the German carmaker, the same integrated structure that also underpins the ID. 3 hatchback. It has been suggested that the ID R could compete against the second-generation Tesla Roadster, if an internal ID sub-brand strategy document calling for the proposed model to be assembled at the company’s Karmann branch comes to fruition.

The MEB platform offers the versatility to house electric motors mounted both at the front and rear, and is described as the perfect starting point for the new sports car, giving Volkswagen engineers scope to develop it with a choice of up to three different layouts with front-, rear- or all-wheel drive.

New batteries in the Volkswagen ID. R

As a top-of-the-range model, the new two-seater or 2+2 would benefit from a dual-motor setup similar to that adopted by the soon-to-be-revealed ID. 4 SUV, not only providing the Volkswagen Group with a performance flagship, but also potentially forming the basis of a proposed electric-powered successor to the combustion-engined Audi TT.

As some sources reported last year, sister brand Porsche is developing a fully electric Boxster. While that model is believed to be based on the Taycan’s PPE platform or an adapted version of the existing combustion-engine platform, the Stuttgart brand may be able to use the MEB platform to create a sibling for the ID sports car.

A number of design study models for the car already exist at Volkswagen’s headquarters in Wolfsburg. It has been earmarked to pioneer the use of what the company’s motorsport director, Sven Smeets, describes as a “new performance-based battery” being developed in-house at the German carmaker for future ID. R models.

The new battery incorporates patented cell technology from Volkswagen’s ID R racing prototype, which has set a number of performance records in recent years.

“We are starting to work on the first batteries for the high-performance road models, using the dedicated ID. R team, so there will be a direct link between them,” said Smeets. “The batteries start in the same area. At the moment we are finalising the performance parameters of the batteries.”

Although secretly hidden, the high-performance car battery from Volkswagen is said to use a different chemical process to that employed by the ID. 3. It is also said to adopt a new cell-to-pack architecture for greater efficiency and packaging benefits.

Is Volkswagen renewing its batteries?

Speaking about the possibilities open to the German carmaker in developing performance batteries for road cars, Jost Capito, head of Volkswagen’s R performance car division, said: “We have different cells and construction methods and all the technical know-how from motorsport. There are different demands in a high-performance car than in a road car, and we are analysing all aspects to see what we can do with the technology. We have seen how it works in the ID R and now we want to see how it looks in a road car.”

News of Volkswagen’s plans comes swiftly after the unveiling of the electric all-wheel-drive Golf eR1.

Although not directly targeting any future production model, the eR1 is, in Volkswagen’s own words, “an ambassador for future performance models for the Volkswagen R division”.

A range of ID R performance variants would sit above the ID GTX range in the same way that combustion-engined R models currently sit above the GTI. Some sources first confirmed earlier this year that the GTX brand would initially be used on a current version of the ID. 4 SUV before being rolled out across ID models.