Volkswagen ID.3 reported to have software issues

Volkswagen has software problems with its ID.3 electric car, according to overseas reports.

Germany’s Manager Magazine says the ID3 will be built for months with an incomplete software architecture that could affect up to 20,000 of the EVs.

Planned for Europe, the ID.3s involved will need a manual software update, Electrek

says.

It’s unknown what the software problem is and how it affects vehicles or the sales timeline, but Manager Magazine says the issue is “massive”.

Fixing it is difficult, with thousands of ID.3 cars expected to be parked in dedicated rented spaces until around the end of March when service teams will be deployed with mobile computer stations.

New software will be manually installed for the first 10,000 or so ID.3s, Electrek adds. About 20,000 ID.3 vehicles will need to be reworked until the second production round begins in May. At that time, further software updates can be deployed over-the-air, Electrek says.

The ID.3 is the first EV to use Volkswagen’s modular MEB architecture.

VW Group sales head Dr Christian Dahlheim says reservations for the first 10,000 ID.3 units took just a day to be received after orders opened in May.

The second 10,000 units were reserved in one month, and another 10,000 orders were received by September.

The ID.3 is offered in different variants, with between about 297km and 482km range.

Europe pricing starts at about 30,000 euros (NZ$50,456, A$48,403).

Volkswagen intends launching at least two EVs next year, starting with the ID.3 hatchback in Europe and the ID.4 (ID Crozz) in the US, Electrek adds.

It will also increase its plug-in hybrid offerings and aims to halve CO2 emissions from its vehicles by 2025 and be carbon neutral by 2050.