Volkswagen ID.3 production ongoing despite software issues, vehicles to be updated in storage – report

Volkswagen is pushing ahead with the production of its ID.3 fully electric vehicle despite ‘massive’ software problems, Manager Magazin reports. The hatchback EV has been in production at the facility in Zwickau, Germany from November, and the issues faced here have been indicated to be incomplete software architecture, the German publication wrote.

Volkswagen will, however, proceed with the manufacture of approximately 10,000 units of the ID.3 despite the software issues. This initial batch will then be stored in large facilities until the Northern Hemisphere spring of 2020, when the automaker will deploy teams with mobile computer stations to manually rectify the software in each car.

Production of the ID.3 will continue alongside the software rectification for the initial batch of 10,000 ID.3s, and the same software update will be applied to the following batch of 10,000 vehicles, albeit through a simpler update administered over-the-air. A separate report by Inside EVs states the second batch as comprising 20,000 units for a total of 30,000 vehicles affected.

Manager Magazin also reports that Volkswagen chief Herbert Diess intends to sell the new software architecture to other automakers, and Wolfsburg-based automaker is currently in talks with automotive components manufacturer Continental.

The ID.3 is set for market launch across Europe in the summer of 2020, and more than 35,000 customers have already reserved with a pre-booking deposit paid, Volkswagen said last month. The electric hatchback is offered in 45 kWh, 58 kWh and 77 kWh battery versions, offering ranges of 330 km, 420 km and 550 km respectively. Propulsion is courtesy of a rear axle-mounted 204 PS/310 Nm motor.