More details and pictures of the first all-electric Volkswagen Golf have emerged ahead of the car’s official reveal at next week’s Geneva motor show.
The Volkswagen e-Golf will have a 109-mile range and is claimed to take five hours to charge from a household socket. The 26.5kW battery is mated to a 114bhp, 199lb ft electric motor. According to reports, the new technology adds around 250kg to the standard car’s kerb weight.
The report says the e-Golf will take 11.8sec to reach 62mph from rest and can achieve a limited 84mph top speed.
Three drive modes will be available: Normal, Eco and Range. Eco limits peak power to 95bhp and the top speed to 74.5mph, while Range deactivates the air conditioning and limits the maximum speed to 59mph.
The e-Golf is part of a new model offensive which will see Volkswagen launch seven new derivatives of the C-segment hatchback.
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I just don't get it...
Maybe I have a skewed perspective on the world, but forgive me for thinking that spending well over £20k (and then some), for a car that's heavier and seriously compromised in terms of range isn't a great idea.
Even if you can afford it, by the time you want to sell it (and the batteries are dying), whose going to want to buy these things? They offer no contingency if you get caught out of range or when it's a very cold day (maybe some Flintstone pedals in the footwell would be a useful option pack in the convenience options!??!), and you're basically paying a premium for a car that can only be used 'as a car' for significantly less time than it actually spends charging! Go figure!
Audi recently canned the A2 because of low global EV sales, so I'm amazed this has got through, but as has been said I don't think there is joined up thinking in the VAG rank and file.
Hopefully the early adopters will pay for the upfront development of far more flexible EV hybrids to come further down the line for people who don't wish to live 100 miles and a five hour charge at a time.
Electric or hybrid ?
I sometimes wonder if people in the same organisation talk to each other ? I've just read on another page where Audi are preparing an A3 Hybrid delivering 188 m.p.g. Perhaps the VAG group are test marketing both variants before going into production. The Audi route seems to me to be eminently sensible at the right price. No range anxiety there, or special plug-in needs.
Why bother?
With a total of 1262 EV vehicle registrations in UK last year, it's surprising that VW are bothered - there are niche markets, but this is more like a "faint crack" market. Surprised the emphasis hasn't been on hybrid.
So in the last month we have Nissan producing a family hatchback to rival the Golf, and now VW producing an EV to rival the Leaf - presumably somebody at the top in the motor industry knows what they're doing?