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April 20, 2015

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Home » Business » Autotalk Special

VW Group China e-Fleet lights up auto festival

By Anna Lu | April 20, 2015, Monday | Print Edition

To see Volkswagen Group’s latest NEVs , you don’t need to come to its stand at the show.

Yesterday, on the eve of the Auto Shanghai 2015, Volkswagen Group China e-Fleet shuttled through the streets of Shanghai for Group Night pre-show, showcasing the newest eco-friendly products as the keys to sustainable development in China.

Taking the center stage in the city are electric up! models, an all-electric car launched last November in China, and Audi A3 Sportback e-tron, a plug-in hybrid car scheduled for release this year. The two, gathering together with the e-Golf cars, Golf GTE cars, and Golf Variant Hymotion fuel cell vehicle under the group’s slogan “Think Blue” at the auto show, offer just a glimpse into Volkswagen’s master plan of making emission-free inroads in China — the NEV localization program will start in China from the next year.

Thanks to the modular toolkit strategy, which is also implemented in its Chinese factories, Volkswagen can electrify nearly every model in its range. The company’s mission is to offer each of its Chinese customers the right product for their growing desire for individual mobility.

Small, agile, and stylish, the Volkswagen electric up! and the Audi A3 Sportback e-tron are perfect for eco-friendly urban travelling.

The electric up! is a cute four-seat featuring an array of bespoke designs, which include a curved layout of LED daytime running light, aerodynamically developed 15-inch alloy wheels, and special leather and chrome accents that leave a puristic impression.

It consumes only 12.1 kWh of electricity for 100 kilometer traveling and can be fully recharged simply through domestic sockets in 6 to 8 hours, or as much as 80 percent of its total capacity, within 30 minutes at special charging infrastructure.

Its maximum mileage, which is up to 157 kilometers upon a single charge, can vary through switching between different driving style profiles: the standard mode, ‘Eco’ and ‘Eco+’. The latter two can support longer trips by reducing the engine output, limiting the top speed, and modifying the performance response curve.

The car is silently dynamic. Powered by an electric motor with 60 kW peak power, it can accelerate from 0 to 100 km/h in 12.4 seconds on its way to a top speed of 130 km/h, without any disturbing gearshift interruptions or powertrain noise.

The Audi A3 Sportback e-tron, a plug-in hybrid version of Audi’s compact hatchback, combines the best of two worlds: the zero emission of an electric car for short-range urban commuting, as well as the dynamics and long-distance flexibility of a traditional car, whose internal combustion engine guarantees a stable power source and solves the mileage anxiety.

The Audi A3 Sportback e-tron, which offers a maximum system power output of 150 kW, can keep its fuel consumption as low as 1.5 liters per 100 kilometers.

Its operating range in the electric mode is up to 50 kilometers, which can be extended further to 940 kilometers by a 1.4 TFSI engine in the powertrain.

With the help of the engine, the car’s top speed can be brought up to 222km/h from 130km/h in the electric mode. It takes only 7.6 seconds for the car to sprint from 0 to 100 km/h, a speed that the electric motor only can keep provided there is sufficient energy in the battery.

The localized production of Volkswagen new energy cars will start with plug-in hybrids like these, which the group finds to be the most advanced green technology and the most commercially viable ones currently.

The expansion of its plug-in hybrid lineup is expected to cover most of mainstream models like Audi A6 and a new Volkswagen midsize limousine.

When thinking blue, Volkswagen is indeed thinking large.

Autotalk Special


 

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