E-Up: Volkswagen ELECTRIC CAR Unveiled

FRANKFURT — German carmaker Volkswagen AG said it would unveil several new models at this week's Frankfurt Auto Show, including an electric car called the E-Up.

At a reception before the start of the show Monday evening, the company said the E-Up compact would likely only go into production in 2013 and approach production levels of that of its other popular compact cars only by 2020.

The company said the front wheel drive car's lithium ion battery will have 18 kilowatt hours energy capacity enabling a driving distance of around 130 kilometers, or about 80 miles, depending on driving style.

"One of the basic milestones on this timeline is the mass produced electric car," Chief Executive Martin Winterkorn said in a statement.

He said only in high volumes and on all continents could one truly speak of the beginning of the electric age in automobiles and a perceptible reduction of their environmental impact.

"The concept car now being presented in Frankfurt very realistically shows how we envision such a Volkswagen with pure electric drive – technically, visually and with regard to a practical size," Winterkorn said.

The company will also unveil other models that include more of its Blue Motion technology as well as new hybrid technology.

In his speech later in the evening, Winterkorn said the company overall would remain focused on efficiency across the company, and that VW would take the electric car out of the niche market that it's currently in, and bring it to the world at much larger production levels.

"The future will belong to lower emissions and more efficient transportation," he said. "We're releasing one environmentally friendly car after another.

"The VW group is in top form. Today, VW is the most successful multi-brand car group in the world; we have convincing solutions for the entire market."

He said that the company was also confident about the future as it was seeing more positive signals for the economy.

"There are increasing signals that we've seen the bottom; we're looking at this optimistically."

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On the Net: http://www.volkswagen.com

Comments

[RexOzone]

Ach du leiber! Bust this out now and stop cow towing to the gas companies.

[SworldPeas]

I have an older electric car with a 50 mile range, I use it everyday. It's free to drive and zero emissions, I charge it using my solar power system. If I need to go further then 50 miles I take my gas car. Charging an electric car with a "grid tied" solar system is a financial benefit that is yet untapped. I don't have an electric bill and I don't pay for gasoline or oil changes, theres no radiator fluid to check, maintenance is a breeze.

[Blenvid]

I hope these car manufacturers know that while 80 miles may be great for Europeans, it simply won't due for Americans. I don't know a single person who doesn't need more than an 80 mile charge: all of my friends and driving family members. We need 120 miles/charge at least, 150 preferrably. I really want one, but I can't do 80 miles/charge.

[tfred]

You're wrong. I live in Chicago and 80 miles would be great for me. They aren't saying that you'd want this car if you lived in the sticks or in "Texas", but for a city it would be more than necessary.

[dadw5boys]

if you have to you would

[bdouglass]

One word...precisely.

[politkal kos]

Our future has been spent. The bail out is like throwing water on a electrical fire. It will be a miracle if in 10 years if "real" unemployment falls below 10%. The middle class will be joining the ranks of the impoverished. If you have ever been to europe this is what our society will become. Some may like this others not. Our steady decline over the last 30 years from a great nation to a begger nation could have been avoided but greed triumphed over the public good .

hat tip to http://www.iamned.com good articles

The nation as a whole has changed morally and ethically for the worse and we are reaping what we have all sowed..

[Nanea]

The European Union is the world's wealthiest region. http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,649389,00.html They do have health care that is affordable to everyone, and most EU countries have a public option. On average every European citizen with a job gets 30 days paid leave, they have a shorter work week, while the EU is more productive than the US. Most countries have public transport that is reliable and cheap, the inflation is lower, the unemployment rate too.

So what's so bad about the EU?

[Ryan Williams]

While I applaud the revived interest in electric cars, switching from gasoline to electricity is kind of like stealing from Peter to pay Paul, or however that goes. The majority of Americans still get their electricity from Coal, and I wish someone would do a serious study of the increased emissions from coal fired power plants given a 10% increase in electric cars versus the emissions from hybrid gas or efficient gas or diesel vehicles.

[jsgaetano]

But the difference is we can stop using coal power, and our entire country becomes cleaner... whereas using fossil fuel cars will never be clean.

And don't let HP love interest Boone Pickens fool you- natural gas isn't a real solution either. The only reason he's pimping it is because he decided to go into the natural gas market instead of pushing renewable energy.

[rf dude]

" PAPERS!! "...
--

[lizardbrain]

Why will it take them so long to produce cars at volume (2013?). I think the group of electric cars out today (and the next year) are great. The VW may help by lowering the price point, but they are very late. Here are the latest electric cars (with videos):
http://www.dasolar.com/solar-energy/solar-powered-cars

[AirViceMarshalPark]

What was so wrong with the Beetle that the U-rp fixes?

In 2009 Dollars, I ran my Bug for $25 a month in gas. I gave it to my sister for her high school car and she ran it for 2 years with no oil in the engine. Not bad for an air-cooled engine and it was no problemo.

I bought a Super Beetle in later years and I still have it. People offer to buy it all the time.

Not for sale.

[netzwerg]

Hehe, I have an 1958 bug here in Germany, love it, love it, love it. It never broke down, for 30 years now. Won it from a friends dad when I was in university.

[netzwerg]

not for sale either. ;)

[jsarets]

I'm going to sit out the lithium generation and see what happens with the ceramic super-capacitors. I currently don't have a way to charge a car at home anyway.

I see the merit of having a regenerative brake/launch motor on the driveshaft and an engine stop/restart motor on the crankshaft. I also like the Bose active suspension, which uses linear electric motors in a regenerative vibration-canceling system.

But we're about to have a renaissance of small combustion engines. A 2009 Ford Focus has a 2.0L engine that produces 140hp. A 2011 Ford Focus will have a 1.6L engine that produces 180hp.

One of the common arguments for hybrids is that combustion engines are only efficient within a narrow range of rpms. But variable valve timing/lift, direct injection, and other developments are making the sweet spot wider and wider.

Fiat, of all companies, is developing an engine whose valves are operated entirely by computer-controlled electrohydraulic actuators with no mechanical valvetrain.

Rolls Royce, of all companies, is developing an asymmetrical rotary atkinson-cycle diesel engine that consumes over 30% less fuel and weighs over 60% less than a typical diesel engine.

And finally, automakers are finding that the same engine produces up to 25% more power when tuned to run on ethanol than when tuned to run on gasoline!

I have nothing against electric cars, but I'd rather have biofuels from sustainable feedstock and lightweight cars with efficient little engines. YMMV.

[katooom]

Why do we need 140HP? I own a '95 Honda Civic, 72HP when new. 150,000 miles now. Great car. Cruise at 80mph, keeps up with traffic, 42mpg.

HP takes BTUs. BTU take fuel. Less HP, Less BTUs. Less fuel, BETTER MPG!!

[norkas]

Tesla has had a electric auto for over 2 years that gets over 280 miles on one charge today . The auto was pricey and now they have a new model that will be out for half the price.

Nissan will have the leaf enter the auto market that will shave everyone up.

Today they can take graphite and mold in seconds or minutes and this is something that could of never been done before. This allows a autos body to be 65% plus lighter and stronger. then steel or any other component .

New tech is already here and GM and others were so poorly managed they has NO clue. New autos of the future are here and in the next 2 years will make a massive impact on economies, enviroment , and consumers.

Do not blink because you will be shocked at what will hit the market and how oil companies will shake to a different tune.

[tfred]

Half the private of A tessla roadster is still 60,000 dollars. Bet the VW won't cost that much. Plus the Tessla just had a major recall of ALL the cars it has produced so far. I'll pass on it, thanks.

[CaliRN]

GM could have been a definitive world-leader in the production of electric cars but their management 'caved in' to the demands of the oil companies for them to scrap the EV1 project around 8 years ago.
Now look at them. They must be so proud.

[jsarets]

The EV-1 was the most economical highway-capable two-seat electric car that could have been developed at that time, at they cost over $80K apiece to produce. The end of the story was a major public relations disaster, but the EV-1 couldn't have been a mass market product. GM caved to the economic reality that they couldn't make money selling the EV-1.

GM probably won't make money selling the Volt, either. The make or break product for GM is the 2011 Chevy Cruze, the Volt's mass market sister car. With a 1.4L turbo producing 140hp and 45mpg, it should be an excellent fuel-sipper.

[CaliRN]

Yes, the EV1 was extremely expensive to produce at that time. GM limited production of the EV1 to just over 1,000 units. If GM had continued with the program and increased production the cost of producing each car would have become more economical. Public interest in electric vehicles was growing at the time the EV1 program was killed, even with the cryptic ads that GM used to promote the car. GM also had the resources to advance battery technology (over time as they continued the program) to be more efficient.

jsarets, I just can't help but think that if GM had shown "moral courage" - a term used in the movie "Who Killed the Electric Car" - to continue their EV1 program, the affordability and technology of electric vehicles would be many years ahead of where it is now.

Most importantly, we need cars to be mass produced that are not powered by fossil fuels of any kind, no matter how efficient they are; not only because of how limited fossil fuels will be in the future but also to help save the environment.

[vew]

A car that runs on cat pee. Now THAT'S innovation!

[Saidas]

What we need is a car that runs on BS of which there is a plentiful and never ending supply!

[Overtone]

Automobiles remain a universal love affair across the planet. Revolutionary new technology will insure that most future cars will be electric or hybrid vehicles.

For an overview, see the article: 4 Steps to Revive the Auto Industry and the Economy on the website: www.aesopinstitute.org

It outlines revolutionary new technology that opens surprising paths to electric cars that need no recharge. Advanced versions can later turn parked cars into power plants, able to wirelessly sell power to the local utility. Imagine the impact! These breakthroughs will change our ideas about energy. Vehicles may be able to pay for themselves!

The science is not yet in the textbooks. Skepticism is to be anticipated. However, independent laboratory validation and mass production of these new systems is now on the horizon.

One of these scientific breakthroughs, demonstrating substantial excess heat, was recently validated by experiments at Rowan University. National laboratories and better known universities can readily reproduce the experiments.

Once they prove their potential, these radically new technologies will change most of what is presently believed concerning energy. Learn more at: www.chavaenergy.com Under the Heading HOW? See the entries for MagGen and SPICE (Self Powered Internal Combustion Engine).

Will breakthrough technologies such as these prove practical and be utilized by the auto industry? Who will not want an electric car that needs no recharge? The auto industry is ripe for radical change - we can accelerate the process!

[sculptor]

I looked at the first website above. That kind of stuff is many many years from commercial deployment. Even though LENR are real verifiable phenomena, I've yet to see anybody with an explanation that seems reasonable. To put it bluntly I don't think anybody really understands what the hell is going on. Furthermore, even though repeatable, there is a significant probability that a given LENR experiment will not produce excess heat. This in my book translates into serious reliability and manufacturablity issues. I think some of the alternative fusion technologies (such as the Polywell reactor of EMC2 or the Magnetized Target reactor of General Fusion) are much more likely to be the low hanging fruit of our future energy sources. Admittedly none of these reactors will fit in a car but none of us should turn our backs to this technology because of that fact.

[Trittydi]

Not bad - but the timetable is a little far out.

Hopefully someone will come along and steal their thunder by getting production for a viable electric car up and running sooner
*

[FoxIslander]

I was having a problem with the E-up name, but then....its better than VOLT.
...and probably wont begin to rattle itself to pieces in 20k miles.

[uprt]

E-Up All In It