DailyTech - VW to Produce Electric 5-door Golf in 2014

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Auto VW to Produce Electric 5-door Golf in 2014
Shane McGlaun (Blog) - November 11, 2010 11:15 AM

23 comment(s) - last by CannedTurkey.. on Nov 12 at 3:39 PM

VW Golf blue-e-motion EV (Source: Edmunds)

Car will change much ahead of production

Electric vehicles are grabbing headlines lately with most major carmakers announcing that they will have EVs on the market in the coming years. One of the EVs that is still a few years away is from Volkswagen.

VW has unveiled the car and offered up a few details that will undoubtedly change before the car enters production in 2014. The VW EV will be based on the five-door Golf that is already sold around the world. The car is known as the Golf blue-e-motion and has only electric power for motivation. The five-door vehicle will seat five people and the electric motor will be under the hood where an internal combustion engine typically sits.

The electric motor will produce a maximum power rating of 85 kilowatts ( 115hp) and the continuous power rating will be 50 kilowatts or about 69hp. Those numbers are low by conventional standards, but VW reminds that the performance will be decent when the torque produced by the electric motor is considered. The vehicle will produce 199 foot-pounds of torque.

The battery pack in the vehicle as of now is a lithium-ion system with 26.5 kilowatt-hours of power inside. This is the portion of the vehicle that will definitely change ahead of production.

The current battery pack would be good for about 90 miles of all electric driving. However, the battery technology available by 2014 will be superior to what we have today and VW expects a much better driving range then. VW also points out that the Nissan Leaf is likely to have a real world driving range less than the 100 miles Nissan touts in marketing.

VW stated, "At the car's production launch, Volkswagen will announce final driving range data of the production version, which is expected to be significantly improved with the battery technology used then."

The EV will use regenerative braking to recharge the battery packs when braking and will have several driving modes and brake settings. The driving modes will allow the driver to get the most comfort, the most range and will offer normal mode too. In the Range+ mode, the VW Golf EV will turn the air conditioning system off inside the vehicle.

The battery packs are arranged throughout the vehicle in the floors, under seats, and in other places. The batteries are cooled with a separate AC system and the total weight of the battery packs is 693 pounds.

Pricing is unannounced at this time and what markets it will be sold in are also unknown.

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Great for the Sun-Belters

By Suntan on 11/11/2010 12:06:07 PM , Rating: 3

Yawn....

I’ll say it again. Anyone that thinks they will get 90 miles of driving out of that car, bring it on up here and drive around the Twin Cities for the next couple of months. I’d be interested to see your miles/charge when it is 5°F and you want to turn the heater on.

-Suntan

RE: Great for the Sun-Belters

By bobsmith1492 on 11/11/2010 12:25:03 PM , Rating: 2

It'd probably be better in cold weather than for people driving in Arizona in 100 degree heat blasting the AC... heating is more efficient than AC plus the sun is helping instead of hurting. The batteries would have to be insulated and kept warm, though, which may be why they are around the passenger compartment.

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RE: Great for the Sun-Belters

By Dr of crap on 11/11/2010 1:07:24 PM , Rating: 2

Great to see that Suntan is a fellow Twin Citian, but you've got the temp all wrong.
When it hits -20°F those batteries won't go 25 miles, And we need heat and defrost - make that 10 miles!

And the sun really doesn't help at that temp.
Sorry but you sunbelt guys don't know how the cold can reduce batteries to nothing but a cold brick that won't start your car.
And the temp gets +100°F in the summer so we do know about to much heat as well.

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RE: Great for the Sun-Belters

By ppardee on 11/11/2010 1:45:51 PM , Rating: 2

You know about too much heat, do you? A spike of 101°F isn't going to have the same effect as 3 months over 110°F and spikes up to 120° here in the sunny southwest. Up until last week it was still in the high 90s. Now, its getting brutally cold! The high today is supposed to be 72°. We're breaking out the parkas!

In my experience (3 years in Montana), the cold only temporarily renders the battery useless. The heat destroys the battery (Turning it into a HOT brick that won't start your car ;) ). We have to replace our batteries roughly every 2 years in Phx. I can't imagine what having to replace the dozen batteries in that bad boy would cost!

At least in the cold, you can keep the batteries warm via charging and discharging. If you can only get 90 miles out of it, you're going to want to charge it every night. Since it is going to be plugged in, you can run a small heater all night. Similarly, you could keep them cool via the AC, but that drains a TON of power.

Chances are, though, this is only ever going to be a viable product in temperate climates.

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RE: Great for the Sun-Belters

By Dr of crap on 11/11/2010 3:21:47 PM , Rating: 2

Whoa, don't go all postal....
My point was that in the extreme cold an ICE car might not even start. So an EV would have a hard time moving 20 miles with heat and defrost also running.
In Phoneix heat you could still drive W/O AC. I know it's hard but I have relatives there and they had cars that didn't have AC. ( how cavemanlike huh?)
Here W/O heat you'd freeze your toes off.

And yes I know that batteries boil over in the heat.
Jezeees - trying to steal my thunder!

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RE: Great for the Sun-Belters

By Moishe on 11/12/2010 10:12:09 AM , Rating: 2

And imagine breaking down in the cold... 5 F and the car won't run.... no heater.

ouch. As a kid growing up in Northern WA and Southern BC, we had times where we'd get stuck in the snow or break down. For the most part, the car would run and you could maintain heat inside. No can do in pure EV.

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RE: Great for the Sun-Belters

By Anoxanmore on 11/11/2010 1:11:06 PM , Rating: 2

Bleh, you Minneapolis people have it easy. Let me know when you guys get down to -25F each winter for weeks at a time.

Even my heavy duty battery at times complains about starting up.

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RE: Great for the Sun-Belters

By CannedTurkey on 11/12/2010 3:39:47 PM , Rating: 2

-25? Oh you have it easy. Let me know when it gets down to -40 for a couple weeks at a time..

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An EV finally worth considering

By flyingrooster on 11/11/2010 11:36:57 AM , Rating: 2

This should be a great car. It doesn't look like some '70s POS like the Leaf or the Honda EV. Nor is it an impractical subcompact. I currently own a 2004 Golf GL and love it. I'm sure the EV will be just as fun to drive. VW has really gotten their act together with their new offerings and really do stand a chance at becoming the world's biggest auto maker as their CEO desires.

RE: An EV finally worth considering

By FITCamaro on 11/11/2010 1:15:09 PM , Rating: 2

I'd rather have the diesel variant.

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RE: An EV finally worth considering

By Lord 666 on 11/11/2010 2:19:51 PM , Rating: 3

I'd rather have the diesel/electric variant... in either a Passat or Jetta frame.

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RE: An EV finally worth considering

By MrFord on 11/11/2010 3:12:50 PM , Rating: 2

Then buy the diesel variant.

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But why isn't there a backup?

By vectorm12 on 11/11/2010 11:43:28 AM , Rating: 2

I'd love to buy one of these for my next practical vehicle but I can't help but wonder why there isn't a super compact diesel engine in there to give you enough juice incase you forget to plug it in after a long day at work.

Can it seriously be that hard implementing a dieselgenerator into the designs of all these EVs without giving up too much weight/space?

RE: But why isn't there a backup?

By Suntan on 11/11/2010 12:03:11 PM , Rating: 2

quote:
Can it seriously be that hard implementing a dieselgenerator into the designs of all these EVs without giving up too much weight/space?

Yes.

-Suntan

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RE: But why isn't there a backup?

By kattanna on 11/11/2010 12:38:19 PM , Rating: 2

when these start to become widespread, i wonder how services like AAA will respond to their customer when they call about their car not starting only to show up and find a dead battery.

at least with gas engines, when someone runs out of gas, they can bring them a couple gallons to get home or to the nearest station.

with EV's not so much.

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RE: But why isn't there a backup?

By JediJeb on 11/12/2010 2:30:37 PM , Rating: 2

Service trucks will love it, they can charge way more for several miles worth of towing than they can to just deliver a few gallons of gas.

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Impractical

By Beenthere on 11/11/2010 1:05:46 PM , Rating: 2

There's no infrastructure to support EVs. Maybe by '12 there will be some sort of EV support but being realistic, EV's are far from practical for 99.98% of the world no matter how much hype there is.

VW is always a step ahead in alternative powered vehicles but EVs still make little sense when you consider the big picture, cost to produce electricity, production and recycling of batteries, etc. Yes we may reduce exhaust emissions while increasing toxic waste and other emissions to produce EVs. As with gasohol, these concepts are more hype than value.

RE: Impractical

By FITCamaro on 11/11/2010 1:18:30 PM , Rating: 1

Even with infrastructure they're impractical. Until a battery exists that can charge in 5 minutes and go even 200 miles, electric vehicles won't be practical as people want a car that can do everything.

Sure there are idiots who say our standard of living should change but I'll leave that attitude to morons from Europe or those seeking to make the US more like them.

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RE: Impractical

By walk2k on 11/11/10, Rating: -1

RE: Impractical

By FITCamaro on 11/11/2010 3:49:53 PM , Rating: 2

Yes because everyone who doesn't like electric cars works for the oil companies.

And the vast majority of automotive maintenance will still have to be performed on electric cars. Namely tires and brakes. Obviously oil changes will be gone but those are hardly expensive considering the average driver gets 2-3 a year since many cars advertise 5000 miles between oil changes.

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RE: Impractical

By Spuke on 11/12/2010 9:48:25 AM , Rating: 1

quote:
Obviously oil changes will be gone but those are hardly expensive considering the average driver gets 2-3 a year since many cars advertise 5000 miles between oil changes.

And those are getting longer all of the time. Some cars are every 7500 miles and Porsche only requires oil changes every 10k to 20k miles.

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RE: Impractical

By JediJeb on 11/12/2010 2:28:19 PM , Rating: 2

Also I imagine with the regenerative braking you won't be getting by with a $40 set of brake pads either.

I can't see EVs as being cheaper to maintain because you will have to take it to the dealer for almost everything that needs to be done. Oil, filters, and gas are the only things missing from an EV versus an ICE vehicle and those don't add up to much overall and will pale in comparison to a battery exchange. The pipe dream is in believing and EV is equivalent to a TV set where you just plug it in and go, not giving any thought to it otherwise. They will still have things like rheostats and control modules that can burnout and imagine what happens if a main power cable gets a worn spot on the insulation, you think exploding iPod batteries are bad. EVs will have just as many problems as current vehicles do. They are not magical, well at least not until Apple makes one ;)

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