Volkswagen officially revealed today the new XL1 Concept, its most fuel-efficient vehicle which will make its official debut tomorrow at the 2011 Qatar Motor Show. According to the German manufacturer, the new car needs only 0.9 liters of diesel fuel in order to be driven for 100 km. Impressive, huh? As you may see from the photos, the new car is in fact an evolutionary stage of Volkswagen’s 1-litre car strategy and the firm is demonstrating that this goal is now within reach.
Moreover, the car delivers only 24 g/km of CO2 emissions and uses a combination of lightweight construction (monocoque and add-on parts made of carbon fibre). The car is powered by a plug-in hybrid system - consisting of a two cylinder TDI engine (35 kW / 48 PS), E-motor (20 kW / 27 PS), 7-speed dual-clutch transmission (DSG) and lithium-ion battery.
Thanks to the impressive aerodynamic drag Cd of 0.186 and the other technologies found in the XL1, the result is a fuel consumption of 0.9 l/100 km. What is more interesting is that the car can be driven in pure electric mode for up to 35 kilometres. The battery can be charged from a conventional household electric outlet, but battery regeneration is also employed to recover energy while slowing down and store as much of it as possible in the battery for re-use.
