In light of the still-widening diesel emissions scandal, it’s no surprise that Volkswagen came to the Los Angeles Auto Show promoting an electric car.
The 2016 VW e-Golf is a spirited runabout that makes almost no compromises in terms of performance, comfort or cargo space (Image: Volkswagen of America Inc.)
The German car company brought a fleet of the sporty e-Golf battery electric vehicles to the show, eagerly throwing the keys to anyone willing to take a test drive.
The car is worth promoting. The VW e-Golf is a spirited runabout that deserves its place in the popular Golf family. In going electric, it makes almost no compromises in terms of performance, comfort or cargo space. It looks like a Golf, and it runs like a Golf.
And like most battery electric vehicles, it costs too much, takes too long to recharge, and has too little range.
Volkswagen, though seemingly late to the battery electric game, has been testing fully electric prototypes since the 1980s. Introducing the e-Golf as a model year 2015 car, it’s now entering a crowded field. I count more than a dozen contenders, among them league leaders Tesla Model S and Nissan Leaf.
Other than the Tesla — which can drive three times farther than any other BEV but also costs at least three times more — electric cars on the market include the Fiat 500e, BMW i3, Chevy Spark, Ford Focus, Kia Soul, Mitsubishi i-MiEV, Smart EV and Mercedes B-Class.
The e-Golf lands near the top in terms of range, a promised 83 miles between charges — not far behind 93 for the Kia, 87 for the Fiat, 85 for the Mercedes and 84 for the Leaf — and in the middle in terms of price, less than the BMW or Mercedes, about the same as the Fiat and the Kia, and well above the Ford or Chevy.
The Volkswagen Group will invest an additional 100 million Euros (£70 million) in alternative drive technologies in 2016. Group CEO Matthias Müller announced the plans today (Friday 20th November) at the company’s headquarters in Wolfsburg.
2016 Volkswagen e-Golf
The move comes as the VW Group is planning on limiting its spending on capital expenditure to 12 billion Euros, down from the previously planned 13 billion Euros. These cuts will impact projects such as the proposed new design centre in Wolfsburg, which will save around 100 million Euros. The all-electric Phaeton which was announced in mid-October has been put on hold too, but remains in the pipeline rather than being cancelled indefinitely.
Most of the projects that will not be affected by cuts involve new products and modular toolkits. Money will continue to be spent on the next-generation VW Golf, the Audi Q5 and the new Crafter van plant in Poland. Crucially, the modular electric toolkit (MEB), announced at the same time as the all-electric Phaeton, will still be developed.
The MEB will work in a similar fashion to the current MQB, which is the architecture that underpins a large number of models in the VW Group, including those in the VW, Seat, Skoda and Audi ranges. This common platform keeps costs low and allows the group to offer a variety of models without encountering huge engineering costs for each.
The plan is that the MEB will do the same thing for the VW Group as the MQB did, namely dramatically increase the number of models available – with the difference being that MEB models will all feature plug-in drivetrains of one sort or another. This will help bring the VW Group’s plans to have 20 electric and plug-in hybrid models on sale by 2020 to fruition.
The Volkswagen diesel-emission cheating scandal has caused executive heads to roll, cars to be yanked off sale, and regulators to pore over real-world emission data with a laser-like focus.
2016 Volkswagen e-Golf
It has made the future of the VW Group as the world’s largest carmaker seem far more perilous than it did just one month ago.
This morning, the company’s board of directors released a statement laying out its plans to move forward, even as it cuts capital investments by 1 billion Euros ($1.14 billion) to cope with the crisis.
It contains a laundry list of adjustments to VW’s planned future technology investments, including more focus on electrified drivetrains.
Volkswagen’s new electric hybrid Golf is as green as they come, but can VW ever clean up its ruined reputation?
Turn it on: Golf’s GTE is part electric and part petrol, with a promise of 166 miles to the gallon
After the scandals in sport, food and banking (doping, horse meat, Libor and the rest), only a fool would have bet against the motor industry not cheating the system, too. But no one would have fingered Volkswagen as the culprit. A byword for trust and decency for more than 75 years and the jewel of the German automotive industry, all reduced to lousy tricksters in the space of a single afternoon. That old adage that a good name takes a lifetime to win and a moment to lose has never been more true.
It was ironic, for me at least, that the day Michael Horn, VW’s US boss, stood up and said: “We’ve screwed up!” was also the day I found myself at the wheel of the new Golf GTE. The E in the title stands for Electric, while the GT is for Gran Turismo and tells new customers (and God knows they’re going to need them) that this isn’t just some dull electric buggy affair (a golf buggy!) but a full-on driver’s car that shares the same sporting DNA as the brand’s most famous performance badge – the GTi. It’s certainly a tricky balancing act for this VW to pull off as the car has to be both parsimonious and powerful. A sort of vegan Tarzan.
The car is a plug-in hybrid with both a 1.4 TSI petrol (no diesel here) and a snappy electric engine. It has five operating modes: pure electric, electric plus, battery hold, battery charge and auto hybrid. VW has made the technology that controls each option incredibly straightforward, but like many others, I suspect, after fiddling about with the various settings, I clicked on auto hybrid and let the car sort itself out. It seemed to know what it was about far better than me, anyway. Whichever mode you select the car always pulls away in pure electric and it takes a while to get used to that sudden, silent lurch.
All the extra gubbins associated with two engines and a large battery mean that the car is 300kg heavier than the standard model. That’s like driving everywhere with the Fijian rugby team’s front row sitting in the back. Despite all that heft the car still feels quick and agile around the park (rather like the Fijians themselves) which is testament to the raw power of the GTE. It does 0-62mph in 7.6 seconds with a top speed of 138mph.
Inside and out the car is almost identical to every other Golf on the road. One of VW’s e-mobility taglines is “The future is familiar” – and the GTE is certainly that. Within minutes of taking the wheel you feel completely at home. It’s one of VW’s great strengths that its cars can be totally fresh and yet familiar all at the same time.
Being a hybrid, the car’s eco credentials are clearly what sets it apart. It has a range of 31 miles using its fully charged electric engine alone (and most daily journeys are a lot less than that), and it will do up 580 miles on a single tank if both systems are engaged. VW claims an average of 166mpg (depending on how you drive, of course) with emissions of just 39g of CO2 per km. But, and a BUT could not be BIGGER, what’s the point of it?
How could one arm of VW be producing such a clever, clean machine while its other has sold more than 11m motors that knock out anything up to 40 times the pollution they claim? I fear that VW’s so-called “defeat device” will defeat a lot more than it was intended to.
At last some data to confirm what most EV owners already suspected
When fleets compare electric vehicle (EV) costs with diesel, most of the emphasis is put on the P11d price and fuel. However, there are also significant differences in service and maintenance costs. Put simply, servicing and maintenance of a fully-electric vehicle is estimated to cost between 25% and 40% less than that of a petrol or diesel car.
“There are fewer parts that will require maintenance in an EV,” explains Chris Chandler, principal consultant, fleet consultancy, at leasing giant Lex Autolease.
Unlike petrol or diesel vehicles, which have dozens of moving components in their engine and transmission, EVs have a simple drivetrain, typically consisting of just three parts: an on-board charger, inverter and motor.
When Ford unveiled its Focus electric car in America in 2012, it listed more than 20 items used in petrol and diesel cars but not in EVs that require inspection, maintenance or replacement over a vehicle’s 10-year/150,000-mile life.
These included the alternator, power steering fluid (it uses electrical assistance), radiator and assorted pipework, spark plugs, starter motor, thermostat, timing belt and a water pump.
This makes an EV cheaper and means there are fewer moving parts to go wrong, resulting in improved reliability and on-road times.
On top of this, EVs require no oil changes, spark plugs, air filter, transmission fluid, exhaust pipe or radiator hoses, all of which can add to the service, maintenance and repair (SMR) costs of a petrol or diesel vehicle.
The relative simplicity of an EV’s drivetrain is reflected in its SMR costs, according to Nissan. It says that both the Leaf and Nissan e-NV200 cost “considerably less to service and maintain than diesel or petrol alternatives”.
The author doesn’t seem to get the difference between a hybrid and a plug-in hybrid, but otherwise it’s not a bad review
This car uses green technology, not just to reduce emissions, but to go faster
Until recently, hybrid cars were pretty sedate affairs. They were either for celebrities to be seen in, or they were the car your Uber driver arrived in. Now that’s changing, with the latest hybrids ranging from McLaren’s £866,000 P1 supercar to a string of saloons and hatchbacks from a range of mainstream car makers.
Enter Volkswagen and the new Golf GTE. Since the 1970s, the Golf has been the goose that laid the golden egg for VW, and the latest generation, the Mk VII, is an all-round brilliant machine. The GTE is its latest incarnation.
The idea is that if the all-electric VW Golf, which has a range of around 90 miles, leaves you worrying about broken charging stations and range anxiety, this new plug-in hybrid Golf GTE will tempt you. This, then, is a fast hybrid, a kind of Greenpeace-friendly hot hatch for polar bear-loving speed freaks.
The power comes from a combination of a 148bhp turbo-charged petrol engine and a 101bhp electric motor, which when combined can push out a maximum of 201bhp. The electric motor will charge in less than four hours from a domestic socket, or in just over two hours at a rapid-charging station of the type increasingly found at motorway service stations. This combination makes the GTE quicker to 60mph than the diesel-powered Golf GTD, while at the same time offering economy and emission figures to make a Toyota Prius blush, and leaving owners with a zero road-tax bill. If your daily commute is less than 31 miles (the electric-only range) this car offers incredibly low ownership costs and you could (theoretically) never fill up the tank.
However, this will depend on which of the five different drive modes you select, ranging from pure electric “E-mode” to “GTE”, which uses the petrol and electric powers to make this green Golf very quick indeed. If you indulge in this burst of power, though, electric range will drop to nearer 20 miles and the promised economy will be impossible to attain. Critics will say that it doesn’t live-up to the true heritage of the Golf GTI and doesn’t deserve the first two letters of its name. But this car uses green technology, not just to reduce emissions, but to go faster, to make driving fun. And that’s something to be celebrated.
If anyone needs proof that the world is slowly changing, look no further than the major car manufacturers. These lumbering dinosaurs are being forced, kicking and screaming, into the eco driven future to the extent that they’re even converting their major sellers into green machines. The latest example is this Volkswagen Passat GTE, a plugin hybrid (PHEV) which boasts ‘official’ consumption figures of 149 mpg and 31 miles of all electric range. And at a price which is very nearly the same as the diesel version it will presumably one day replace.
What makes this new car so special is the fact that 70% of all Passat sales go to fleet buyers, the faceless men who buy thousands of cars for their corporate, mile eating executives who spend their lives driving up and down the nation’s highways. These guys demand the best deal for their bulk buying, so when a hybrid becomes a part of the menu, you know that times have indeed changed.
First impressions
The new Passat is an impressive saloon/sedan, no question. The sleek elongated bodyline looks every inch a motorway cruiser, and it’s clear that the company has its sights set on the BMW and Mercedes equivalents with the introduction of this new 2015 model. The car we tested had all the fancy trim and upmarket materials of a deluxe limo, thankfully with a character to match. Watch our video below to get an idea of how the car performs in practice.
The Volkswagen Passat GTE is the latest in a burgeoning number of ultra-low-emission mid-size plug-in petrol-electric hybrids to be launched in recent times.
Volkswagen Passat GTE (Image: Autocar)
To be sold in the UK in both saloon and, as driven here, estate bodystyles, the Passat GTE shares various elements of its high-tech driveline with the recently introduced Golf GTE. As with the smaller hatch, the plug-in Passat has the capability to run exclusively on electric propulsion for extended distances or on a combination of petrol and electric power.
Overall refinement in electric mode is superb, with a smooth delivery and silent running traits making it a pleasurable steer
Set to rival the Volvo S60 Plug-In Hybrid and BMW 340e, the new Passat GTE sports a specially tuned version of Volkswagen’s turbocharged 1.4-litre four-cylinder petrol engine that develops 164bhp and 184lb ft as its primary form of propulsion.
The transversely mounted combustion engine is supported by an electric motor sited within the forward section of a standard six-speed dual-clutch automatic gearbox, from where it produces 113bhp and 243lb ft. The disc-shaped unit can operate on its own in zero-emission electric mode or in tandem with the petrol engine for added performance
Volkswagen quotes a combined system output for the Passat GTE of 215bhp and 295lb ft, giving Wolfsburg’s latest plug-in petrol-electric hybrid a subtle 14bhp and 37lb ft more than the smaller Golf GTE.
The driver can choose between four different driving modes: E-mode, Hybrid, Battery Charge and GTE. Volkswagen claims an electric range of up to 31 miles at speeds up to 81mph in the default E-mode, in which the Passat GTE always starts. In the GTE mode, the efforts of the petrol and electric motor are pooled to provide a claimed 0-62mph time of 7.6sec and a 140mph top speed.
The long-awaited launch of the PHEV version of a very popular car
Volkswagen announced the official launch of its second plug-in hybrid model after the Golf GTE – the Passat GTE (available in a longer Variant version too).
Sales in first few countries already began (in Germany from €44,250), while the rollout in Europe will take a few months.
Volkswagen Passat GTE and Passat GTE Variant
Volkswagen is getting ready to begin sales in Asia this year too.
“The Volkswagen continues to electrify! Following the Golf GTE*, comes the next high-volume model with a plug-in drive system: this time the German carmaker is electrifying the new Passat GTE. Its launch marks the debut of a new generation of business and family cars – zero-emission vehicle and long-distance touring car all in one. A Volkswagen that combines the present and the future. A car that boasts not only one of the most progressive drive systems of our time, but also an array of innovative assistance and infotainment systems that is ground-breaking in the segment of large family cars.”
An audio-heavy video of the e-Golf to give the experience of driving it – it’s different!
What Winding Road does well in its video reviews is to capture what it feels and sounds like while sitting in the driver’s seat of the car being reviewed. These videos showcase the Volkswagen e-Golf in Winding Road style.
Per the video description:
Wear headphones! The audio in this video was recorded with in-ear binaural microphones. With headphones or earbuds on, you’ll feel like you’re actually sitting in the driver’s seat.
