VW XL1 production version gallery

[NeilBlanchard]

The car we see in these images is probably the production version - it will have a fair bit of carbon fiber. here's a labeled version of the transparent body:



It has just a 10L fuel tank, but at 0.9L/100km that still is almost 900km/559m range! Do we know the battery pack capacity, and/or the all-electric range? [Edit: the MT video sez 22 miles...]

Here's the staggered seats - so they can narrow the car a bit to reduce the frontal area; and they're thin mesh seats, lighter and smaller and cooler:



It's got side video mirrors! The screen in in the shade on the door(s):



And the exhaust pipe exits into the right rear wheel well. I love the underside...

[tjts1]

Originally Posted by Smurf

That 260 and 235 MPG figure are based on the carbon fiber concept version, right?

So we can expect that to drop..

NO
This is the production car as you see it here. Its being hand built out of carbon fiber by VW with bodies assembled by a sub contractor in Austria. Its not going to be cheap.
http://jalopnik.com/this-is-volkswag...-car-328215660

Production of the XL1 will be pretty much made by hand in Osnabrück. The CFRP monocoque is produced by a supplier in Austria using the RTM process, which is the way carbon fiber components can be mass produced. The body is built without doors or lids, while individual CFRP components are joined to one another in the body shell frame by gluing. The two wing doors are produced in a separate production stage including their crash reinforcements, since high precision is needed as carbon elements cannot be reshaped afterwards.

[rmay635703]

Originally Posted by tjts1

NO
This is the production car as you see it here. Its being hand built out of carbon fiber by VW with bodies assembled by a sub contractor in Austria. Its not going to be cheap.

This type of car although expensive is needed to get the carbon fiber systems market up and running. Realistically we don't have anybody doing true carbon fiber in low cost mass production mode. There are many startups with the claim carbon fiber will reduce the cost over steel in the future. But none with the capital to find out for real.

Without this test by VW no one will get the ball rolling as it were on true carbon fiber, lets hope their test bears fruit into a true mass production option after the intitial offering is proven.

[NeilBlanchard]

Scarab doors...

[niky]

Originally Posted by Old Tele man

...do I detect different size tyres front (narrow) & rear (wider)?

Yeah... taller... in front?

[HydroJim]

According to my math, they're very close to the same but the rear ends up being slightly taller.

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Originally Posted by HydroJim

According to my math, they're very close to the same but the rear ends up being slightly taller.

And wider.

[ctgottapee]

Originally Posted by Jyden

Nice to see, and nice to see that reviewers are positive of the design. Stille they talt about acceleration and high speed cornering, and havnet grasped its a ECO car - build soly for milage - not speed or acceleration - dumb journalists...

exactly!

reviewers never complain when a compact car can't tow a boat
or a large minivan has slow 0-60 speed

[Frank Lee]

The pic in Neil's post #11 SHOWS the tire sizes...

Then the net provides easy calculatorless analysis:

Seems to me they could have run all four the same size at some miniscule fe/aero/handling hit.

[wyatt]

Originally Posted by NeilBlanchard

Do we know the battery pack capacity?

According to Car and Driver, it's a 5-kWh Lithium Ion battery pack. Lithium Ion batteries are the ones that caught fire in the Boeing 787 and has the fleet grounded. They also say it's not likely to make it to the US market, and will cost $50,000. I love the car, but that would be a monthly payment I could not stomach!