The VW XL1
 

From Autopia and Wired.com comes one of the very latest articles on the VW XL1, dated 5/23/13. It's a nice write-up with lots of good photos included.

Driving Volkswagen's 261-MPG Diesel-Electric Supercar Spacepod | Autopia | Wired.com

Thank you! Also posted in this thread: http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...y-25024-2.html

A cool vehicle, no doubt. I'm really not as impressed by the weight aspect as the author though. The new Mistubishi Mirage is the same weight, and doesn't make use of tons of exotic materials, just some high strength steel. Its getting really good crash test ratings too. The rest of the XL1 is pretty awesome though.

Interesting comparison... most specs (weight, hp, acceleration) are similar, but the XL1 costs ~10x more and uses ~20% of the fuel.

FTM, the 1st-gen Insight weighs about 100 lbs less... And even that's half again as much as this: Ariel Atom to get even lighter thanks to new titanium chassis - SlashGear

This SAE article indicates that the XL1 is 1753 lbs dry, so lighter than the Mirage:Hyper-efficient VW XL1 drives to production. Not sure where the ~1900 lbs figure is sourced from in the Wired article; I've seen the 795kg (aka 1753 lbs) figure mentioned in a few different sources.

The Atom is pretty impressive, though probably not a daily driver for most folks... :)

Real world testing; VW US 260 mpg claim to Automobile magazine observed 160 mpg average. Porsche sports car performance with hyrid fuel economy but also Porsche pricing. Build your own. 2014 Volkswagen XL1 First Drive - Automobile Magazine

How much for a DIY XL1? :)

http://i536.photobucket.com/albums/f...ps40312b47.jpg
http://i536.photobucket.com/albums/f...pse03440ad.jpg

90% fuel tank and driver @ 65 kg would be around 150 lbs

In the EU official weight is including fuel and average (*) driver.


(*) 65 kg is likely not very average anymore though ...