The facelifted Volkswagen e-Golf is set to receive an upgraded electric drivetrain when it's unveiled later this year. It will have an official range of up to 186 miles, which is 68 miles more than the current e-Golf (pictured above).
VW's head of electrical development, Volkmar Tanneberger, says that official figure translates to a real-world range of up to 124 miles.
Key among the planned changes is the adoption of a new 36 amp-hour (Ah) lithium ion battery, replacing the existing 24Ah unit. The updated cell technology is claimed to provide a significant improvement in energy efficiency; the battery's capacity will increase from 24.2kWh to 35.8kWh, an improvement of more than 48%.
An upgraded electric motor will also provide an additional 21bhp, giving the new e-Golf a total of 134bhp.
Volkswagen sales decrease by 2% in first four months of 2016
Despite a 20kg increase in kerb weight, the new e-Golf is claimed to hit 62mph in 9.3sec - 1.1sec quicker than the existing model. Top speed will also increase, from a limited 87mph to 93mph.
VW's e-Golf Touch concept car, which was unveiled in January, previewed a new version of its Active Info digital instrument panel, as well as a 9.2in infotainment screen with gesture control.
The facelifted e-Golf is due to appear alongside the rest of the facelifted Golf line-up in October this year. UK sales should begin in early 2017.
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We had our Renault Zoe written off early 2017, the underwriters Zurich refused to pay for the battery element of the vehicle saying it needed a separate insurance policy, never mentioned when buying the car by Renault. They paid for the car but not the battery, seems they consider the battery to be separate from the car, I wonder if this is true for all electric vehicles do we need two insurance policies. Its very scary as the battery pack at two years old was valued at £10,000.00 by Renault, the original brand new cost.
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In other VAG news today...
Volkswagen Emissions Cheating Hits Profit at Biggest Brand
"Profit at Volkswagen AG’s namesake brand tumbled 86 percent in the first quarter, highlighting the challenge the carmaker faces in emerging from the nearly nine-month-old emissions cheating scandal.
Operating profit at the VW nameplate dropped to 73 million euros ($81 million) from 514 million euros last year, Europe’s biggest carmaker said in a statement. That gave the marque an operating margin of 0.3 percent, far short of a mid-term goal of 6 percent.
“The result at the VW brand showed yet again that earnings there are fr too low,” said Sascha Gommel, a Frankfurt-based analyst with Commerzbank AG. “They need to safeguard pricing going forward as costs at the VW brand are relatively high.”