I bought a VW ID.4 three months ago, and now that October's here, it's getting colder. According to the manufacturer, it's supposed to be 520 km, but I've read that range drops massively in winter. Does anyone have practical experience with how much of a percentage I actually need to subtract? I regularly do trips of 150 - 200 km.
Forget the manufacturer's range figures in winter - those are measured under ideal conditions. Realistically, you should expect a 20 - 30% loss of range, and some people report even up to 40% - it depends on how cold it gets, how much heating you need, and your driving style. With your 150 - 200 km trips, you should be fine though, as long as you're not constantly flooring it in sub-zero temperatures with snow on the ground. The good news: the ID.4 has a heat pump depending on the trim level, which helps save quite a bit of electricity.
With your 150 - 200 km trips, you're actually in pretty good shape because you don't constantly stress about range - except in winter you might need to charge more often than you think. What a lot of people forget: it's not just the cold, but also the heating and ventilation that drain the battery quite a bit, plus the battery itself delivers less energy in cold temperatures. Realistically, with 20 - 40% less range (depending on how cold it is and how much you're heating), you're looking at around 300 - 400 km in winter, which still covers your distances fine - the key thing is just not to calculate too close to the limit and maybe know where a charging station is halfway along your route in case something goes wrong.
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