[pearlgolf]

30 miles on pure electric, 90mpg on a 60 mile route...is it cheating if you calculate mileage on pure electric?

http://www.autobloggreen.com/2008/06/26/vw-plans-first-electric-car-by-2010-now-testing-golf-twin-drive/

Details on the new Volkswagen Twin Drive are still sketchy at best, but here's what we know so far: The Golf chassis definitely has two powerplants like any other hybrid, one internal combustion engine along with an electric motor. From what we can tell, the car is likely to use lithium ion batteries stored in the cargo hatch and likely supplied by Sanyo. We don't think that the powerplants are connected in any way, so there would be no charging of the batteries by the engine, but we're waiting for more clarification on the matter. If regenerative braking were employed, this could be the first production through-the-ground hybrid. VeeDub is claiming an electric-only range of about 50 kilometers, or 31 miles if you live here in the U.S. If there is indeed no way to recharge the batteries without plugging in, the 122 horsepower 2.0L turbodiesel engine would completely take over, leaving the 82 hp electric motor along for the ride. There are two separate fuel gauges in the cockpit, one for liquid fuel and the other for battery charge.

Perhaps keeping the two powerplants separate allows for the creation of the hybrid without the licensing of any previously existing technology. Twenty of these Twin Drive Golf's will be tested until 2012 and will be charged using only renewable electricity. That last point is important, considering that much of Germany's power comes from less-than-clean coal. We'll let you know of any additional production plans as soon as we're aware of any.

BERLIN — Volkswagen unveiled its Golf TwinDrive plug-in hybrid at a government-sponsored forum here, and said it hopes to put the first production vehicles on the road by 2010.

VW said it is adapting electric motors, hybrid drive systems and lithium-ion battery packs to its TDI and gasoline engines. The Golf TwinDrive test vehicle delivers a combined 174 horsepower and can run up to 30 miles on pure electric power. Over a typical 62-mile route, the vehicle returns more than 90 mpg, VW said.

VW introduced the Golf TwinDrive at a forum sponsored by the German Ministry for the Environment. It is developing plug-in hybrid vehicles as part of an alliance of German companies working on the future of mobility and the efficient use of renewable energy sources in transportation

http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do/News/articleId=128028

 

[FLipped]

That can't be right....the battery can't be charged by the engine??? The worst of both worlds...a heavy electric motor and battery pack and a diesel engine, both with expensive and mutually exclusive benefits.

 

[buzybee]

That can't be right....the battery can't be charged by the engine??? The worst of both worlds...a heavy electric motor and battery pack and a diesel engine, both with expensive and mutually exclusive benefits.

I highly doubt this is the case. It's probably chargeable through the engine. This looks like the rabbit hybrid concept but with plug in capability.

 

[diesel guy]

It's not the case, at least that's what this other article suggests. It'll be a normal plug in hybrid.

Volkswagen's been toying with hybrids for awhile and got electric-vehicle advocates in a lather over the diesel-electric Golf it unveiled a few months ago. Now the company's promising a plug-in hybrid by 2010 and the German government's written a big check to make it happen.

VW boss Martin Winterkorn says gas and diesel engines will be around for a long time to come, but "the future belongs to all-electric cars." The automaker is staking a claim to that future with a plug-in hybrid drivetrain it calls Twin Drive. It will debut in a Golf fitted with a 122-horsepower diesel engine and an 82-horsepower electric motor.

"While the e-motor on a typical hybrid model just supplements the combustion engine, the exact opposite is true on Twin Drive," Winterkorn said during the car's unveiling in Berlin. "Here the diesel or gasoline engine supplements the e-motor."

Start-stop technology will save power and regenerative braking will help generate it. VW says the car will use lithium-ion batteries and have an all-electric range of 31 miles. The company recently signed a deal with Sanyo to develop li-ion batteries; the electronics company plans to begin production next year and says it will spend $769 million on the effort during the next seven years.

Winterkorn says VW will have a demonstration test fleet of 20 Twin Drive Golfs on the road by 2010, but there's no word yet on whether the car will see production. Still, Germany's Interior Ministry is eager to see plug-in hybrids on the road ASAP, so it's announced a $23.5 million dollar program to help VW and other automakers develop such vehicles within four years. Germany's environmental minister, Sigmar Gabriel, says there could be 1 million hybrids on the road in Germany by 2020 and 10 million a decade after that.

http://blog.wired.com/cars/2008/06/vw-rolls-out-a.html#more

 

[chittychittybangbang]

I'm not sure how the electric motor works on this one but I don't see how the engine couldn't charge the batteries if both motors can drive the car. If the German government has written a big check to make it happen, I don't see what's preventing it from happening here.

 

[darren]

No way the government is going to fund one company to make hybrids. The domestic automakers already have programs in the works and chevy is looking to make the volt in large numbers. So 20 twindrives on the road by 2010? That means the public won't get the car until 2012. I won't be holding my breath!

 

[Superbass]

Everyone else is coming out with hybrids obviously VW also has to to keep up. Te prius was a right time right place car and the other guys can't afford to not at least devlop a viable competitor.

 

[pearlgolf]

But what about the claimed 90 mpg? That's like the plug in prius aftermarket claiming 90 mpg. They should state 40mpg/50mpe , miles per electric unit.