Welcome to EVWAudi.com!
Welcome to the leading source for news and details on Volkswagen, Audi, and Porsche hybrid and electric vehicles. The first hint that VW was going to make a hybrid was the VW Golf TDI hybrid concept car. VW ended up making their first production hybrid the 2011 VW Touareg hybrid and 2011 Porsche Cayenne S hybrid. The next hybrid will be the 2012 Volkswagen Jetta hybrid. There have been interesting concepts from Audi such as the 2010 Audi A8 full hybrid concept and Q7 hybrid but their first production hybrid will be the Audi Q5 quattro hybrid followed by the Audi A6 hybrid.
The front page is a blog that will keep you updated on Audi and VW hybrid news. Click on categories to view past articles sorted by that category. The forum is just getting started and needs your input! Also check out the buying guides for detailed info about the VW/Audi/Porsche hybrids that you won’t find in the sales brochure or reviews. Please check back often as we are building an online community of Volkswagen and Audi hybrid fans!
Back to the past and not in a good way
Posted by Voltron in Uncategorized, full EV on April 17, 2012
One of the cars they had at the 2012 New York Auto Show was the electric Delorean. Yes, the Back to the Future car. While the Delorean was a revolutionary car and a much loved movie hero, this car should have stayed in 1985.
The presenter was well informed about the car and the electric Delorean had some nice specs: 0-60 in about 5 seconds, about 100 mile range, and 125 mph top speed. Unfortunately, one major problem is that…it’s a Delorean.
Both electric and gas powered Deloreans are sold as new, untitled cars from the 1980s because the cars are built from new, unsold frames with VINs from the 80s. When the original Delorean went under, they had years worth of parts to build new cars which were eventually bought by the new Delorean. The new Delorean can completely rebuild old cars or build you a new one from spare parts. The problem is that they’re still building cars from the 1980s. 30 years of advancements in car design are generations beyond the old safety, suspension, and convenience features of the Delorean. Since the car was designed in 1976, it was designed before computers did most of the design and engineering testing. One of the reasons kit cars can be built to such high performance levels at minimal cost is because they don’t meet any modern safety, emissions, or fit-finish standards. And even then, since you’re building it yourself, you save lots of money. The new electric Delorean has an estimated price of $95,000. For that kind of money, why wouldn’t you buy a Tesla? Because they’re too common?
If I had the car and parts, I would happily assemble this car as a toy or boulevard cruiser but when there’s a much better modern car, I don’t know how many buyers will choose this. Even a mass produced Tesla or Leaf have limited capability. So what is this car? A fun project and good promotional tool for a good car from 1985. The license plate says “Gas? Where we’re going we don’t need gas”. I’ll wait for the hover conversionBoth electric and gas powered Deloreans are sold as new, untitled cars from the 1980s because the cars are built from new, unsold frames with VINs from the 80s. When the original Delorean went under, they had years worth of parts to build new cars which were eventually bought by the new Delorean. The new Delorean can completely rebuild old cars or build you a new one from spare parts. The problem is that they’re still building cars from the 1980s. 30 years of advancements in car design are generations beyond the old safety, suspension, and convenience features of the Delorean. Since the car was designed in 1976, it was designed before computers did most of the design and engineering testing. One of the reasons kit cars can be built to such high performance levels at minimal cost is because they don’t meet any modern safety, emissions, or fit-finish standards. And even then, since you’re building it yourself, you save lots of money. The new electric Delorean has an estimated price of $95,000. For that kind of money, why wouldn’t you buy a Tesla? Because they’re too common?
If I had the car and parts, I would happily assemble this car as a toy or boulevard cruiser but when there’s a much better modern car, I don’t know how many buyers will choose this. Even a mass produced Tesla or Leaf have limited capability. So what is this car? A fun project and good promotional tool for a good car from 1985. The license plate says “Gas? Where we’re going we don’t need gas”. I’ll wait for the hover conversion.
US files WTO case against China over control of rare earth element market
Posted by Voltron in how the hybrid system works on March 16, 2012
As discussed in my last post about rare earth element components in hybrids and electric vehicles, the Obama administration filed a challenge with the WTO against China’s restrictions on export of rare earth elements. Why should you care about rare earth elements? A Prius battery contains 20-30 lbs of lanthanum. Other components like the motor and electronics systems also use these. This is only one reason why companies are switching from NiMH to Lithium ion batteries.
Why did China restrict exports? Long story short, to move their domestic production from raw materials to finished products like electronics and automobiles! While their explanation is that they are motivated by environmental concerns, this is only half true. Their laws are already looser than the United States and there appears to be many illegal mines in China which violate existing regulations.
This has been on the US’s radar for a while. After some disputes between China and Japan, they block imports to Japan, maker of the Pris and many other electronics. The US Department of Energy has started to give millions for research to reduce or eliminate rare earth elements. While supplemented by private capital investments, the amount of money invested in what could become a national security issue is tiny compared to federal expenditures.
Before rare earth elements become an area of conflict, raw science research funding needs to be restored. Here’s a list of some recent projects funded by the DOE
VW cross coupe concept battery lifespan and range deception
Volkswagen released the Cross coupe TDI hybrid concept today with some interesting facts. MPG is 130 mpg, the car weighs 4100 lbs, and total power is 306 hp and 516 lb-ft. While the numbers seem great for fuel economy and range and power, how is this possible? My best guess is that they are deceptive. First, since it’s a plug in hybrid, much of the increased fuel economy is from running off the battery charge when you first start moving.
The battery pack is Li-ion 9.8 kWh (how much energy it has or capacity), 85 kW (how much power it has) and works at 370V. It has plug in capability for 230V charging. However, this doesn’t mesh with their claim that it can go 27 miles off the battery only. I suspect that they are draining the battery fully for this concept which totally throws off the fuel economy number (even after ignoring that it’s the Euro cycle rating which is much higher than the US EPA cycle rating).
By comparison, the production Touareg hybrid has a NiMH 288V, 75aH, 1.7kWh, 38kW battery pack and it can only go 1.2 miles and up to 31 mph. So going from 1.2 miles to 27 miles I’m pretty sure they’re draining the battery, trading performance for short battery lifespan.
Looking at the Chevy Volt specifications confirms my suspicions. The Volt uses a 16 kWh battery but only uses 10.4 of it going from fully charged to discharged and has a EPA rated range of 35 miles. Since the battery capacities used are about the same and the weight of the vehicles are about the same (the Cross coupe is 4100 lb vs. the Volt 3800 lbs), the numbers make more sense if you know that the Volt is only using about 10 kW and assume that the Cross coupe is also using about 10.
So while the whole point of a concept car is to get people excited and show them what could be, here’s what IS. If Volkswagen built this car and sold it as a production vehicle, first it would incur the penalty of both the diesel and hybrid price premium. So take the cost of a Chevy Volt and add $10,000 for the diesel engine, all wheel drive, and larger car. Those numbers are just a guess but the final price would be in the $50,000 range. Second, electric only range would not be 27 miles if my suspicions are correct. Instead, it would be only around 17 miles. While the Euro mpg rating is 130 mpg, I don’t know how much it would go down with a shorter electric only range. In any case, the US mpg rating is significantly lower than the Euro rating and after taking away battery only range, as a total wild guess I’m going to say it would end up around 50-60 mpg. While that sounds great, would you pay $50,000 for it?
Some more facts:
The front wheels are TDI and electric motor powered. The rear wheels are electric powered only. This means there’s no driveshaft and they could easily make one in FWD only.
Front motor is 40kW and rear motor is 85kW.
Total torque is 700Nm combined…that’s 516 lb-ft! The 2.0L TDI engine makes 188 (190 hp) and 400Nm (295lb-ft), front motor makes 180Nm (133 lb-ft) , rear makes 270Nm (199lb-ft) separately. Since the rear is not connected to the front, I’m guessing the front can only make a maximum of 430Nm combined (317 lb-ft).
Pure electric mode is limited to 120 km/h and max range of 45 km. That’s 74 mph and 27 miles.
VW Golf Blue-e-motion electric car test
Posted by Voltron in Golf Blue e motion, VW Jetta hybrid on February 29, 2012
VW has started public road tests of its electric Golf. The full Electric Golf Blue-e-motion (VW’s name for their electric drive cars) started testing in San Francisco Bay area. You might think they chose this area to court the hippies but it’s really done because VW’s Electronic Research Lab is located nearby.
The final configuration and specs of the electric Golf isn’t yet set but they’ve been testing one with a divided battery pack instead of a single battery pack to better balance the car. Most battery packs are located in the trunk which actually isn’t a horrible setup since it balances the heavy front of the car.
Early specs call for a limited release for 2014 in Europe. In the meantime, a Golf hybrid is planned for the US market for 2015. It’ll probably have similar specs to the VW Jetta hybrid.
VW, whose Electronic Research Laboratory is in Belmont, CA, will test a vehicle whose battery pack can be split into a few sections in order to better balance the car, the website said. The 114-horsepower plug-in can accelerate from 0 to 62 miles per hour in about 12 seconds and has a top speed of 87 miles per hour as well as a single-charge range of about 90 miles.
VW, which hasn’t announced official plans to start selling the battery-electric Golf, said earlier this month that it would start selling a Golf plug-in hybrid (PHEV) in 2015. That model will likely pair a 1.4-liter turbocharged gas engine with a 107-horsepower electric motor and will be able to go as far as 30 miles in electric-only mode. VW will unveil a Golf PHEV concept vehicle at the Paris Motor Show this September, according to PlugInCars.com.
In late 2010, VW unveiled the Golf Blue e-motion in Germany and said at the time that the prototype had a single-charge range of about 100 miles and that the range would be “significantly improved” by the time the model was sold to the public in 2014 (read this for our first-drive review).
VW E-bugster full electric Beetle
OK, so it’s not an electric Audi R8 but it still looks fast. 0-60 in just under 11 seconds, 85 kW, 110 mile range, and 0 emissions. VW has been working on electric cars for a while but the real news on this is the combined charging system. VW has cooperated with Daimler, Porsche, GM, and BMW to make a standard charging interface called the combined charging system. In addition to regular 110V AC charging you can also use faster DC charging at a station.
While the car is just a concept, it’s a pretty good looking concept. Enough already, get to the pics you say?
VW e-bugster video
Posted by Voltron in Uncategorized on February 17, 2012
I came across this video of the new e-bugster. It’s only a concept but it does give some clues as to what future electric and hybrid VW might feature.
VW up! specs and test drive
Posted by Voltron in Blue-e-motion on January 5, 2012
Big old Volkswagen is back to thinking small, and it’s finally doing it right. After two frankly awful attempts at supplying the rest of the world with cheap tin boxes called Fox and Lupo, company bosses have done some soul searching and this is the result: a tiny road warrior that’s absolutely worthy of the 6.3-inch wide emblem on its grill.
It might seem like only yesterday, but the Up! was first shown as a concept back in the pre-crisis days of 2007 at the Frankfurt Motor Show. Talk about fortuitous timing, because this 2+2 three-door minicar is exactly the sort of car that much of economically stunned Europe is craving nowadays. We all, Euro or Yank, want as much premium feel in our cars as cheaply as possible, and this is exactly why the little Up! is destined to clobber The Continent’s vast field of city cars.
We’ve just spent 12 days in a top-trim Up! White Edition driving around in what certainly will be one of the car’s major markets: the piratical, everyone-for-themselves streets of Milan, Italy. With our American brainset, at first we thought, “Yeah, it’s really cute and useful, well built and all, but…” That qualifying “but” was just because the Up! is so small in every dimension save front seat room. As we would come to learn over our dozen days, with an all-new 1.0-liter, 74-horsepower three-cylinder and a serviceable five-speed manual, this little bugger can be a little roll-y in tight curves taken with any spirit, but she sure is fun
After a day of using the Up! to drive around the Lombard capitol, however, our concerns all but evaporated. We quickly came to love the way this tiny hatch sliced and diced through Italy’s notoriously heinous traffic while rewarding us with truly premium quality steering and over-the-road feel. The cabin was surprisingly purr-quiet and throttling and braking was accomplished with far more aplomb than any of its competitors – including the Fiat 500. The 500 provides an almost spot-on comparison to the Up! in our fancier trim, though the Marchionne special would absolutely suffer a loss when comparing cabins. As for the Smart ForTwo, the Up! destroys it handily, and you can bet that Daimler’s suits are extremely concerned. Italian cities are by far the ForTwo’s best markets, and it was impossible not to notice how many bystanders ogled our extremely white VW. Every time we stopped, we were bombarded with questions and nothing but positive comments.
Riding atop VW’s latest front-engine, front-wheel-drive small car architecture dubbed MQB, VW’s stated wet but unloaded weight for our Up! is a scant 2,072 pounds. Before you start with the “death trap” comments, let it be known that this thing just passed the toughest Euro NCAP crash tests with a full five-star rating, so it’s one Mighty Mouse. The transversely mounted naturally aspirated triple-cylinder engine is capable of regularly returning 50 miles per gallon without trying too hard, either.
Space up front for two passengers is nothing short of huge, with seats that can slide way back to accommodate the leggiest of basketball stars. Another big plus is the crystal-clear visibility all around through the car’s acoustically optimized five-layer glass. Those easy-access doors are a whopping 51.2 inches long and they can open wide to around an 80-degree angle. Some body twisting is necessary in tight parking conditions, but at the curb, it’s an easy step up and out as though you’re exiting a Rolls-Royce. The rearview mirror – an often underappreciated appendage – is big and rectangular to let the driver see out of the big and rectangular rear glass. How nice.
This is the first application of the three-cylinder member of VW’s new EA211 engine clan in any real volume, and it’s utterly quiet – even under stiffer throttle. Both two-cylinder and three-cylinder engines tend to have a surprisingly civilized sound to them when done properly, and this all-aluminum unit emits a soothing baritone note while cruising; when you hit the gas, the sound grows like there’s a big strong guy curled up under the hood.
Space up front for two passengers is nothing short of huge, with seats that can slide way back to accommodate the leggiest of basketball stars. Another big plus is the crystal-clear visibility all around through the car’s acoustically optimized five-layer glass. Those easy-access doors are a whopping 51.2 inches long and they can open wide to around an 80-degree angle. Some body twisting is necessary in tight parking conditions, but at the curb, it’s an easy step up and out as though you’re exiting a Rolls-Royce. The rearview mirror – an often underappreciated appendage – is big and rectangular to let the driver see out of the big and rectangular rear glass. How nice.
This is the first application of the three-cylinder member of VW’s new EA211 engine clan in any real volume, and it’s utterly quiet – even under stiffer throttle. Both two-cylinder and three-cylinder engines tend to have a surprisingly civilized sound to them when done properly, and this all-aluminum unit emits a soothing baritone note while cruising; when you hit the gas, the sound grows like there’s a big strong guy curled up under the hood.
While all of the VW’s dimensions and mechanicals effortlessly showed the world around us how a minicar should be built, our White Edition benefited from top-of-the-line 16-inch alloys and Continental ContiPremiumContact2 treads – 185/50 R16 81T all around. All four contact patches worked overtime to nail every line we chose through busy northern Italy. Of course, if this Up! White Edition does make it to the States, it will probably cost somewhere just north of $13,000. But, as ever, you pay for what you get, right?
Our tester carried the current top power specification available for the three-cylinder, meaning 74 hp at its 6,200-rpm redline and 70 pound-feet of torque from 3,000 rpm. You’ll find 60 mph in around 13.0 seconds flat and a 107 mph top speed – typical figures for cars of this ilk. That might seem slow, but as we hinted earlier, once our American smoky burnout-mindset cooled its jets and we drove more like a real Up! owner might, the real glory of the VW became clear. In truth, this is the first actual premium A-segment car that completely convinces us. The Fiat 500 may be cuter, but the material quality choices throughout just can’t compare to a similarly priced Up!
The VW’s rear seats are nigh on useless but for the wee ones, though there is huge headroom and shoulder room in back – something else that cannot be said of the 500. Baggage space with all seats up is just 8.9 cubic feet, becoming 12.0 or so when removing the rear floor panel and dropping it down. Folding the rear seatbacks is a cinch and they lay flat to help create an eminently usable 33.6 cubic feet.
Of course, the only manner in which Volkswagen – or anyone – can make money on smallies like the Up! is to build them in countries that can produce high volumes with less overhead, and the Up! is indeed built at VW’s state-of-the-art facility in Bratislava, Slovakia – the same facility that makes not only the larger Polo, but also the Volkswagen Touareg, Audi Q7 and the Porsche Cayenne trio.
Will the Up! ever get over to the USA and Canada to start a small battle with the ForTwo and 500? We thought about that every day we zipped through the city, and we have to say that it’d be really tough to justify the business case, especially considering how those two vehicles are(n’t) selling in the States. Given that VW never even brought the Polo over, why would they leapfrog down a notch and bring over this car? If, however, this were to happen sometime, the powertrain would be probably need to be a turbocharged version of the three-cylinder inspired by the Up! GT concept shown at the Frankfurt Motor Show – hopefully good for more power than the Stateside Fiat 500′s 101 hp and 98 lb-ft of torque. Plus, the four-door Up! we saw as the Cross Up! Concept in Frankfurt has already been confirmed, and that model would seemingly help build a U.S. business case a bit.
The Up! starts deliveries in Europe in late February. Two Volkswagen subsidiaries, SEAT in Spain and Škoda in the Czech Republic, will be building sister cars along this identical theme – the Mii and the Citigo, respectively.
If Fiat could afford to put together something more along the lines of the quality substance levels we find in this stylish Up!, maybe more Americans would be buying the Italian mouse that isn’t roaring like Turin thought it would. Barring that, we’re hoping that VW considers the Up! as an opportunity to rekindle its reputation for (very) small car excellence here in the U.S.
posted on autoblog
Volkswagen eT! electric delivery van is out of this world
Posted by Voltron in Uncategorized on November 19, 2011
The writer F. Scott Fitzgerald once opined that using an exclamation point is like laughing at your own joke. With that in mind, let’s take a look at the latest work van concept from Volkswagen. The German Automaker has partnered with the German Post Office and the University of Art at Braunschweig to create the eT! electric delivery van. The company says that vehicle offers zero-emissions driving and can be operated by a joystick-type device on the passenger side if necessary. We aren’t entirely sure how that second feature lends itself to making deliveries any easier, but we applaud the automaker’s efforts toward facilitating practical jokers everywhere.
Perhaps more impressive is the fact that VW says that the eT! can be operated semi-autonomously. The vehicle can follow a delivery person from house to house or return to the driver after being parked. While there are no details currently available on the vehicle’s drivetrain, Volkswagen does say that the eT! is equipped with electronically opening doors.
eT! is electrically powered and drives semi-automatically on command
Driver can steer the eT! by ‘drive stick’ from passenger’s side as alternative
Wolfsburg / Potsdam, 18. November 2011. For over 60 years now, commercial vehicles from Volkswagen have maintained a visual presence on the world’s streets. They are helpers in everyday life, which bring us people goods, services, postal deliveries and occasionally emergency assistance as well. Volkswagen Group Research, which is responsible for the world of tomorrow, together with the German Post Office (‘Deutsche Post AG’), which is one of the largest customers of lightweight commercial vehicles – as well as the University of Art at Braunschweig – formed a think tank on future transport and mobility issues. Finally, these research activities led to a completely new vehicle concept for the delivery and logistics field: eT!
Prof. Dr. Jürgen Leohold, Director of Volkswagen Group Research: “We analysed process flows and customer needs in detail, and from these analyses we derived ideas on how the segment of delivery and courier vehicles could be further developed over the long term. In this context, we focused on zero-emissions driving and available space in urban areas, semiautomatic driving functions that offer relevant support and simplify work processes and the integration of new communication technologies. On top of that, we also set out to design a very emotionally appealing commercial vehicle. To attain these goals, our teams not only looked towards the future from the past, but also worked from a future perspective to implement an advanced development concept based on technologies available today.”
The eT! research vehicle could someday actually revolutionise the world of lightweight commercial vehicles. Completely reconceptualised, driven with zero emissions, thought through to the last detail and driving semi-automatically if necessary! Just how wide-ranging the significance of this research project could be for sustainability in the transportation field is underscored by the support for the eT! project by the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety. “The eT! research vehicle,” explains Dr. Wolfgang Schreiber, spokesperson for the Board of Management of Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles, “unifies a whole gamut of innovative functions, which will gain in future importance, specifically for logistics businesses. In particular, the possibility of driving the car semi-automatically – and electrically – in downtown areas unifies economical and environmental aspects more systematically than ever. As a vision of the future, the eT! Is showcasing what is the maximum feasible technology for electric vehicles in the commercial market today with a special design that systematically addresses future customer needs.”
“eT! is a pure electrically powered transporter that systematically transfers E-mobility to the area of commercial use,” says Dr. Rudolf Krebs, Group Manager for Electric Traction at Volkswagen AG. And continues: “As a transport specialist, the eT! is advancing to become the automotive building block for an innovative, future-oriented logistics concept, which not only drives with zero emissions in urban areas – thanks to its electric wheel hub motors – but also offers maximum freedom in manoeuvering and turning as well as optimal utilisation of the vehicle’s interior space. If ‘refuelled’ with electricity generated from renewable energy sources, the eT! can indeed be operated with zero emissions. Naturally, the eT! is not a vehicle which – unlike the Golf or up! with an electric motor – could become available very soon. But we must make plans today for what the world of lightweight commercial vehicles might look like starting in the second half of this decade, including with regard to electrical drives.”
To make the working world of mail delivery personnel and courier drivers simpler and safer, to optimise the logistics of delivery and to shorten delivery times, eT! can be operated semiautomatically in certain situations. The car can follow the delivery person from house to house (“Follow me”), or the car can return to the delivery person on command (“Come to me”) – driverless! As an alternative, the driver can direct the car’s movements via a ‘drive stick’ from the passenger’s side that also offers a standing seat and quick access to the vehicle. On the passenger’s side – the side that faces the sidewalk and therefore the working area of the delivery person – there is therefore an electrically opening sliding door that opens to 2 different stages; this enables extremely quick entry into the vehicle as well as quick access to the mail parcels. This makes unnecessary walking movements around the vehicle a thing of the past.
Variants of this lightweight transport vehicle could be implemented for all conceivable business uses. And these derived concepts are also the focus of research activities. Meanwhile, the eT! concept shown in a world premiere at the Design Centre of Potsdam was specially designed for delivery of mail shipments of all types. The research vehicle will now be integrated in a driving test study and further analyzed
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Audi e-tron spyder video
Posted by Voltron in Uncategorized on October 23, 2011
Here’s the latest specs and video of the Audi e-tron spyder – it looks like a very interesting vehicle
Twin turbo V6 diesel engine with two electric hybrid motors
0-62 mph is 4.2 seconds
convertible
expected to be sold in 2014
The paradox and contradiction of more fuel efficient cars like hybrids and electric vehicles
Gas demand went down for 2011 in the US despite increased US refinery production. As a result, overall oil imports are at a 14 year low (Canadian oil imports are up)! While less gas consumption is best, the reasons for it are poor…literally! The struggling economy, high unemployment rate, and negative consumer outlook have all contributed to low gas demand. While Prius and high fuel economy car sales are up, I don’t think they made a difference in gas consumption compared to these other factors.
However, they do make a dent and every little bit helps. This is the paradox of the high fuel efficiency car or electric vehicle – they reduce demand which, in theory, will keep the price down due to increased supply. Americans seem to still love SUVs and while SUVs have a place and purpose, it’s not as a commuter car unless you work on a ranch.
A higher fuel tax has been suggested by many experts as a way to reduce oil imports and promote more fuel efficiency while paying for vital infrastructure improvements to the nation’s crumbling roadways and bridges. The paradox is that higher fuel efficiency reduce the amount of fuel consumed and therefore, reduce tax income. In the case of electric cars, they use no gas, therefore pay no road tax. Which brings up another suggestion, a direct roadway use tax by the mile. This negates one strong motivation to buy high fuel efficiency cars. Isn’t the point of federal tax credits to promote electric cars? Would you still consider a high fuel efficiency car if you were subject to a mileage tax? Feel free to sign up in our forums and voice your opinion.