Further delays for VW ID.3 likely

Volkswagen is finding that building its electric ID.3 is more of a challenge than it expected.

In November, VW started series production of the ID.3 First at Zwickau in Germany – but in late December it acknowledged the first 10,000 cars are being made without the ability to accept over-the-air software updates.

The cars are being parked in outdoor lots until the company can send in teams of software engineers to fix the problem. VW then said deliveries were expected to begin in late May or early June, CleanTechnica reports.

VW recently held a special event for customers pre-ordering an ID.3 in Denmark and told them deliveries there won’t begin until August.

The company also explained that early First edition cars will not have dual zone climate control, cars with a panoramic sunroof won’t have a bicycle carrier available, the “S” version with the 77kWh battery will be a four-passenger model only with no seat belts fitted for a middle rear passenger.

CleanTechnica predicts VW will get through its early production issues, just as Tesla did.

The US news and commentary site says issues in getting the ID vehicles into production illustrate the difficulties smaller companies will have as they try to switch from the internal combustion engine (ICE) to electric.