Shortly before the Volkswagen ID.4 we know, came the ID.3, an all-electric hatchback. First presented as a prototype at the 2016 Paris Motor Show, the ID.3 landed on the European market in September 2020. Unfortunately, this model is not marketed in North America.

Through Copenhagen to the launch of the Volkswagen ID. Buzz 2023, The Car Guide also took the opportunity to drive a few kilometers behind the wheel of the forbidden fruit ID.3. Here’s the full review of our first impressions.

A well-known architecture

If there were other electric vehicles like the e-Golf before the ID.3, it can boast of being the first to be assembled on the MEB architecture intended exclusively for the group’s electric vehicles. In a way, it is spiritually the successor to the e-Golf.

Photo: Germain Goyer

Shorter, narrower, lower and lighter than the ID.4, the ID.3 looks more like a compact hatchback than a crossover. Depending on the version chosen, it offers space for four to five people. We could compare it to the Chevrolet Bolt EV and even the electric Hyundai Kona. However, unlike these two models that we love, the ID.3 has rear-wheel drive.

Aesthetically, the ID.3 looks a bit like a futuristic Golf. We found the equipment of the test model to be elegant, which, in addition to the moon-grey paint finish, also includes the window band, the roof and the tailgate in black. We don’t like the rims shown in the photos. Inside, the captain’s chairs offer excellent comfort. There is enough space at the back. The instrumentation is almost identical to that of the ID.4. You should know that there is no storage space under the front cover.

Photo: Germain Goyer

In France, consumers can choose between a 62 or 82 kWh battery. The second is not unusual for the people here because it is located in the floor of the ID.4. As for the 62 kWh, it will equip the entry-level version of the ID.4 from model year 2023. In short, these are known components. Depending on the market, the ID.3 can also have a smaller battery with a capacity of 55 kWh.

In terms of autonomy, Volkswagen announces that you can travel up to 424 kilometers with an ID.3 Performance equipped with a 58 kWh battery. The range increases to 556 kilometers with a Pro S version. This data is calculated according to WLTP standards and is more optimistic than North American calculation methods. Regardless of the version chosen, the developed power is 150 kW or 204 hp.

Although our review of the ID.3 was brief, we were able to pick up a few details that we think are interesting. If you’ve already taken the wheel of an ID.4, you won’t feel out of place taking the wheel of the ID.3. Their behavior is very similar. Despite the same wheelbase, the ID.3 remains more agile, lively and responsive and at the same time less clumsy than the ID.4. This makes it a very efficient city car. Not surprisingly, we receive very little feedback from management.

Photo: Germain Goyer

Not for North America

Above we compared the ID.3 to the Bolt EV and the Kona electric, specifically for their format but also their vocation. If these two American and Korean models are marketed across North America, their success is centralized in Quebec, California and somewhat in British Columbia. So if we open our blinders a bit, we understand that the ID.3’s business plan in North America wasn’t interesting. Volkswagen preferred to focus on the ID.4, a crossover more suited to the North American majority.

Photo: Germain Goyer

You should also know that the ID.3 is not an entry-level car, although it is a compact hatchback. In fact, in France it shows a starting price of 44,990 euros. For an optional heat pump, 1,100 euros must be added. The ID.4 is sold from 43,000 euros. As a reference, the eighth generation Golf is offered there from 30,685 euros. It was therefore not to be expected that Volkswagen would offer the ID.3 at a more attractive price than the ID.4 in our market. In this situation, who would have preferred the ID.3 to an ID.4 for the same or maybe even cheaper price? A handful of buyers.

If Volkswagen does not flatly reject the idea of ​​diversifying its range of electric vehicles on our continent by evaluating the possibility of marketing, for example, the second generation ID.3, nothing will come of it either. For our market, the manufacturer is concentrating on the production of the ID.4 in Chattanooga, Tennessee and the possible marketing of the new IDs. Aero and ID. buzz.

Washington, DC has become America’s work-from-home — as 48.3 percent of employees worked remotely in 2021, new census data revealed.

The latest US Census Bureau results show that DC has paved the way for remote work, closely followed by Seattle with 46.8 percent of employees working from home.

In San Francisco, 45.6 percent of workers worked remotely, while Austin and Atlanta had 38.8 and 38.7 percent, respectively.

Meanwhile, Memphis, El Paso, Texas, and Wichita, Kansas, all bottomed with just 10 percent of employees working from home.

Overall, the U.S. reported that nearly 18 percent of its workforce enjoys teleworking, nearly three times the pre-pandemic number.

“Work and commuting are central to American life, so the widespread adoption of work from home is a defining feature of the Covid-19 pandemic,” Census Bureau statistician Michael Burrows said in a statement Thursday .

“With the number of people primarily working from home tripling in just two years, the pandemic has had a very strong impact on the US commuting landscape.”

The US Census Bureau found that Washington, DC, Seattle, San Francisco, Austin, and Atlanta lead the work-from-home lifestyles, while Memphis, El Paso, Texas, and Wichita, Kansas, account for about 10 percent of the workforce working from home, everyone is lagging behind

After the rise in work-from-home culture during the peak of COVID-19, three times as many people were working from home in 2021 as before the pandemic

Washington, DC nearly mirrored the pre-pandemic national average for remote work, reporting that between 2017 and 2019 about 6 to 7 percent of its workforce was working from home.

Among metro areas with populations over 1 million, the capital ranked third for remote work at 33.1 percent, just behind the San Jose metro area at 34.8 percent and the San Francisco Bay Area at 35.1 percent.

Washington, Maryland, Colorado and Massachusetts were all among the countries with the highest percentages of home workers in the US, with all four states reporting that about 24 percent of the workforce was working from home in 2021.

Mississippi ranks last with just 6.3 percent of employees working from home, up from 3.1 percent in 2019.

Louisiana followed with 8.4 percent and Wyoming reported nearly 8.9 percent.

William Frey, a demographer at the Brookings Institution, told the Washington Post that recent work from home correlates with college education.

Washington DC and Seattle both rank among the best educated cities in the country, with 63 percent and 68 percent, respectively, of people ages 25 and older having a bachelor’s degree or higher.

San Francisco, Austin and Atlanta were close behind, joining the latest remote work numbers.

“By and large, these are magnets for younger, well-educated, computer-savvy adults who are often associated with the technology industry and are well-positioned to work from home,” Frey told the Post.

Fear of the coronavirus, which was largely responsible for the surge in work from home, has plummeted. The latest report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics found that just 6.5 percent of people were working remotely in August due to COVID

This aligns with a Pew Research Center survey earlier this year that found higher-income workers who have a four-year college degree are more likely to work from home than those who don’t have a bachelor’s degree.

The survey found that 65 percent of college graduates are more likely to say their work can be done remotely than 53 percent of their peers.

Fear of the coronavirus, which was largely responsible for the surge in work from home, has plummeted. The latest report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics found that just 6.5 percent of people were working remotely in August due to COVID.

Higher-income workers who have a four-year college degree are more likely to work from home than those who don’t (right) as more Americans who can work from home have been working from home since the pandemic (left ).

The latest data from the Census Bureau comes from the 2021 American Community Survey, released Thursday.

The survey typically draws on responses from 3.5 million households to provide 11 billion estimates of commute times, internet access, family life, income, educational attainment, disabilities, military service and employment each year.

The estimates help allocate hundreds of billions of dollars in federal spending. The response rates have improved significantly from 2020 to 2021.