The Volkswagen e-Golf and e-up! are the newest vehicles to be announced by the German automaker. Both cars are electric versions of their gasoline counterparts.
The e-Golf and e-up! have been designed with everyday use in mind. The e-Golf uses an 85 kW electric motor, while the e-up! has a 60 kW electric motor. Acceleration, while not the strong point of the commuter cars, is brisk because of the torque of their electric motors. In Normal mode, the e-Golf can get from 0-60 mph in around 10 seconds.
Intelligent electric systems change driving feel of the electric cars depending on the driver’s needs. To save fuel, the Volkswagen e-Golf and e-up! use different regenerative braking profiles. The driver can choose to leave the regenerative braking off, or variably set between a number of different settings. With regenerative braking selected, the e-Golf and e-up! actually slow down fast enough to turn on their brake lights. Drivers can also select driving profiles which limit power, maximizing range on the battery pack.
The e-Golf and e-up! both have a range of around 100 miles per charge. Charging through a regular wall outlet takes between 9 to 13 hours, with garage charging ports or public charging stations lowering charge times to around 8 hours. Special quick charging stations can charge the battery packs up to 80 percent in half an hour.
Inside the cabin, the e-Golf and e-up! have modes to display their range and features. The e-manager system allows the driver to program specific departure times. At these times, the car will automatically run the air conditioning or heater to the desired level without disrupting the charging process. The range viewer shows a map of the driver’s location, centered inside a circle which represents max theoretical range for a round trip. Surrounding that is another circle which represents the max range of a single destination route, with nearby charging stations marked to assist in trip planning. These settings are also accessible through the e-Remote smartphone app.
Volkswagen hopes to lead alternative fuel vehicles by 2018. In the past few years, the company has developed multiple hybrid, hydrogen, electric, and efficient diesel vehicles. VW even went deeper into the issue by sourcing clean energy through solar, wind, and hydroelectric power. They will be offering their German customers BluePower, which is energy generated exclusively from European hydroelectric plants. BluePower used in the e-Golf of e-up! will create true zero emissions vehicles.
