It looks like VW won’t be sending a diesel hybrid to the US after all. VW announced the 70 MPG diesel-hybrid electric Golf at the Geneva Motor Show, but turned around in the March 27 edition of Auto, Motor und Sport to say they wouldn’t be building the car because it would be “too expensive.”
VW’s ultra-low emission Jetta BlueTDI will be coming to the US mid-summer, according to an announcement made late last month at the Vienna Motor Symposium.
This newer version of the Jetta will meet the strictest emissions standards in the world—BIN5/LEV2—which are enforced by 5 US states: California, Massachusetts, Maine, New York, and Vermont. BIN5/LEV2 standards severely cap nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions (0.05 g/mile), one of the two tailpipe pollutants that have given diesels a bad rap (that and particulate matter).
Image source: Wikipedia
There’s been talk about the VW 1L concept for years. Since VW built the original, fuel economy, safety, price, and release date has been speculated upon and argued about, and I’d finally stopped thinking it was ever going to happen. However, according to VW’s CEO, it should hit the market in 2010.
The VW 1L is so named because, in theory, it only consumes one liter of fuel per 100 kilometers traveled. For those of us in the US, this translates into about 235 MPG. Definitely far and above anything on the market currently. The concept, developed in 2002, actually got better fuel economy, scoring a sweet .89L/100km in VW testing. It’s likely to use more fuel in real world use, but with that kind of mileage in testing it’s unlikely that anyone would complain about an “unsatisfactory 200 MPG.”
This is what a team of engineers can do when challenged to push the limits of fuel efficiency and technology. You may have already heard of VW’s 1-liter car, but take a closer look. It’s a sports-economy concept car produced a few years ago by VW engineers, to answer one big question: could they build a car that consumes less than 3 liters of fuel for every 100 km traveled?
Yes my friends, this could be the one: VW will release a new Golf Diesel Hybrid that gets 69.9 MPG and can run on biodiesel.
See the story at Gas 2.0: A Biodiesel Prius? VW To Release 69.9 MPG Diesel Hybrid.
Update: VW announced this car will not be built because it was deemed “too expensive.” Sorry Folks, VW Diesel Electric Hybrid Not Coming to US.
Toyota may lose its high-mileage stranglehold on the U.S. auto industry, thanks to Volkswagen’s new Golf hybrid-electric diesel. At 69.9 MPG, the new model is a serious contender for high-mileage biodiesel usage with a ridiculously low-emissions profile, especially since it will meet the strictest emissions standards in the world: Europe’s Euro V and America’s Tier II Bin 5.
This makes it likely to be released in California, since the major impediment to U.S. diesel vehicle sales has been emissions technology. But VW doesn’t plan on releasing the vehicle in until Europe late next year, which means we’d optimistically see a U.S. version sometime in 2010.
Unless you’re hidden deep in a cave in Afghanistan, you’re probably aware just how popular and prevalent green businesses are, as well as the greening of existing ones. And in many ways, this is to be applauded. Companies seem to be falling over themselves to find ways to be more efficient, as in the VW Polo 
Bluemotion car, a Prius beater without the hybrid geewhizery. And then there’s Walmart, which seems to have turned over a green leaf in convincing ways, albeit with plenty of room to improve.
However, the question seems to be, is it possible to consume our way to a greener planet? Is buying more things the solution to the current and impending resource shortages? The newly released Smart Seed, an engineered grass seed that purports to require less watering, via much more efficient root systems, would seem to be of this camp. Yet is the answer a greener lawn, or to not have a lawn at all? Will it take drastic change in the way we (we being the developed world, and those emulating us) go about living our lives? Doing business? Raising our families?
Or is there a middle ground between gluttony and martyr-like abstaining from participation in modern consumer culture in order to “save the planet?”
We don’t need new technology to save us, just a little ingenuity.
After a few minor tweaks, Ernie Rogers can get up to 76 mpg in his 2003 VW diesel Beetle:
He drove 1375 miles…[on] just 18 gallons of fuel– 1200 miles of which was accomplished on just one tankfull (15.5 gallons). His trip fuel economy was 76 miles per gallon. Rogers’ car included several small refinements that added up to the exceptional mileage: a drag reducing device he designed and built himself (pictures [here]), lower-rolling-resistance tires, low-friction engine oil, and use of a B5 biodiesel blend fuel to increase efficiency and improve emissions.
That’s right, it’s a non-hybrid that puts the Prius to shame. Granted, this test was at 55 mph, but the VW still gets between 57-65 mpg at normal freeway speeds.
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