Volkswagen Golf Twin Drive:
Plug-In Hybrid Car
Motoring Channel Staff - 27/June/2008
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Volkswagen Golf Twin
Drive: Plug-In Hybrid Car
Not your average engine
bay
Development for its
plug-in hybrid Golf is well
advanced, and Volkswagen could launch it in 2010
The VW Golf Twin Drive does have regenerative
braking and other systems to recharge the battery,
but using green plug-in electricity is the way to go
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Wolfsburg,
Germany —
As the price of petrol and diesel keeps
rising,
car manufacturers the world over are speeding up the development of
next generation propulsion units for electric cars to mitigate
possible short-term profit loses as buyers move away from
petrol-powered vehicles.
One such example has emerged at
Volkswagen, which has just released the Golf Twin Drive in Germany
and is the European car maker's first plug-in hybrid car.
A
fleet of around 20 vehicles has been handed over to the German
government to use and test before any major marketing commitments are
made.
Most major automakers in Europe, Asia, and America
are
imploring their country's leaders to ratchet up the government spending
and investment on green cars and low and zero
emission technologies. This is because it would benefit the world's
huge
manufacturing industries, who stand to lose a lot business if
the
current trend of rising oil prices persists.
The argument is
that more investment by governments would help speed up research and
development into new technologies which in turn would begin to
deliver the long-term CO2 reduction targets that many countries are
seeking. It is claimed that transport contributes about one third of the planet's annual CO2 emissions.
According
to reports out of Germany the plug-in electric VW Golf Twin Drive has a
back-up diesel engine that kicks in when the lithium-ion batteries run
out of charge, but running on its 61kW (82hp) electric motor the
vehicles produce zero CO2 emissions.
The vehicles have a range of
around 50 kilometres (30 miles) running purely on electricity and are
able to reach a reported speed of around 120km/h (75mph).
When
not in use the vehicles can be plugged into normal wall sockets to
rapidly recharge the batteries, and if using green
electricity the
vehicle can provide true zero emission transport.
When the
batteries do run out of juice, there is a high
efficiency turbo
diesel engine that switches on, to avoid stranding driver and
passengers.
If testing runs smoothly, we could see the
Volkswagen Golf Twin Drive plug in hybrid on the road by 2010.
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