....the Volkswagen XL1, the 261-mile-per-gallon diesel hybrid that was making its North American debut here at SEJ’s annual convention. The car is amazing, a sleek-looking two-seat bullet that recalls the German streamliners of the 1930s. Take a look at the 1939 Maybach Stromlinienkarosserie, hugely ahead of its time. The goal, then and now, was to reduce aerodynamic drag and have cars slip gracefully through the air. The CD of this car is just 0.19, which makes it more slippery than a Prius. The XLI adds to that with a very lightweight carbon fiber body structure. It hits the scales at around 1,800 pounds, quite similar to the original Honda Insight hybrid (which it superficially resembles). The electric-only range is about 22 miles. More at this link to Mother Nature Network website. Pretty impressive but at $145,000..... ouch.
wow that is expensive. I wonder how much more it will cost before it can pass US safety standards. and what that would bring the weight up to. I really do hope this brings another auto maker into the hybrid market. This in my opinion is pie in the sky plug in hybrid. it is a great performer but at a cost of being a two seat car. that probably has no air bags and could not pass our safety standards. I would love to have a car that would give me over 200 mpg. until then I will just enjoy the one I have. Some have gotten over 10o mpg for sustained distance over 500 miles so I will be working serious on finding ways to bring up my average mpg.
More misleading hype from an automotive journalist who should know better (and maybe does know better). He says the XL1 gets a mind boggling 261 mpg (knowing readers will ask themselves "how does it do that ?!!?") but doesn't mention that using the same test rules the Chevrolet Volt gets 196 mpg. Left unmentioned in the article is that it really gets 120 mpg after the plugin battery is fully discharged and all of the energy to drive the car comes from the Diesel engine (the Volt gets 47 mpg of gasoline on a depleted plugin battery). And that's on the generous European test cycle. EPA estimates are typically about 20% lower. So, if the XL1 were tested to EPA rules it would likely get about 96 mpg (the Volt gets 37 mpg). Diesel has 15% more carbon so CO2 emissions would be equivalent to a gasoline car that gets an EPA estimate of about 84 mpg. That's excellent but a lot less than "261 mpg". The EV efficiency is almost twice as good as most production plugin cars. Everyone laughed when GM had a press event back around 2010 and said the Volt got 230 mpg. VW's touting of 261 mpg for the XL1 is of the same nature but few seem to realize it due to misleading articles like this. That's too bad because the XL1 really is a very efficient car and doesn't need the extra hype. And, of course, it's true that you can get 196 mpg of gasoline (or even 230 mpg) in a Volt if you drive around 85% or more of your miles on plugin battery power. Similar things are possible on an XL1. Substituting electricity for gas or Diesel is generally a good thing in areas that have a lot of non-coal power sources.
Since the production will really never hit North America and the price will most likely keep it off the roads here, we most likely will never see real world numbers. It will be a toy for some rich celebrity who will never publish real numbers per they will never use the car for daily commutes.
