According to reports, Volkswagen has a production-ready XL1 plug-in diesel hybrid eco car and it will go on sale to the public. More than that, the incredible hybrid diesel plug-in technology that’s been developed in the XL1, will be inherited in part by the Volkswagen Up! city car, to make a Volkswagen Up! diesel hybrid.
We’ve seen the Volkswagen XL1 doing the rounds on the testing scene for a few years now and Volkswagen, along with many other car makers, love to toy with the idea of rakish, one-off ultra-eco cars. It finally appears, however, as though the Volkswagen XL1 is not just a futuristic looking car with glimpse into the future and that it will actually make it into production.
Reducing weight and improving aerodynamics; this is the Volkswagen XL1’s simple philosophy. The small body only takes two people, but it has a drag coefficient of only 0.189. A low weight of only approximately 550 kg means it revels in requiring a small engine and electric motor to deliver respectable performance. The car is constructed from exotic materials like carbon fibre, aluminium and titanium.
The Volkswagen XL1 uses an 800 cc diesel engine with 2-cylinders, which produces 35 kW and 120 Nm, with an additional 20 kW and 140 Nm delivered by the electric motor and 5.5 kWh lithium-ion battery. Power is sent to the wheels via Volkswagen’s 7-speed dual-clutch DSG gearbox. The XL1 will still reach 100 km/h in 12.7 seconds, before running to a top speed is 155 km/h.
Volkswagen says the car will do 0.9 l/100 km, in the real world and the figure produced in the laboratory conditions under EPA guidelines will be even less. Operating alone, the small battery can deliver up to 45 km of range and it can be recharged via a plug-in system, or regenerative braking while on the move.
Of course, an eco-supercar with two engines made from carbon fibre and other exotic materials is not going to be cheap and broad speculation puts the asking price for the Volkswagen XL1 somewhere in the R800 000 – R1-million bracket.
This is where the utilisation of the unique drivetrain technology in the less exotic Volkswagen Up! city car comes into the equation. The Volkswagen Up! is mass-produced and the hybrid will inherit the ground-breaking diesel plug-in technology from the futuristic XL1 to make it one of the most fuel-efficient cars ever.
The current 1.0-litre 3-cylinder petrol-powered Up! consumes 4.9 L/100 km on the combined cycle. Speculation surrounding the Volkswagen Up! hybrid says it will be closer to 3.0 L/100 km and, if that estimate is accurate, the Up! hybrid will be around 40% more fuel efficient than before.
Like the XL1, the Up! hybrid is expected to have a zero-emission pure-electric range of 45 km, while its total hybrid range will depend on the size of the fuel tank fitted. The world premiere of both Volkswagen XL1 and potentially the Up! hybrid are set to take place at the Geneva Motor Show next month.
