Here is a pointer to a cool article on a 100km per liter car by VW. http://www.greatchange.org/footnotes-1-liter-car.html I bet its not very quick, but still 60 miles on a Quart ! Gw <corrected URL>
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(richard schumacher\";p=\"79506)</div> Don't discount the Germans so quickly! :wink: Remember VW marketed the world's first plug-in hybrid - the Audi Duo. They got their fingers badly burned on that one, as it was too heavy (it was only 1989(!), so they had to use lead acid!) and hardly anyone wanted to pay the extra to have one. Hence their apparent recent disinterest in hybrids. But don't be fooled, because there must still be some bright engineers at VW who realise that plug-in hybrids are way ahead of fuel cell cars. How can I be so sure? Because one of AC-propulsion's partners in the development of Lithium-ion plug-in hybrids is.... VW. So VW may be quietly making a lot of progress in this area.... :wink:
The key to the consumption of 1L/100KM is a combination of extreme weight savings and a really small displacement engine. It looks like it seats 2 people in tandem (passenger behind driver) It's a 299cc diesel that weighs in at just 38Kg for the engine with alternator and starter. It's light so it doesn't need much power to go. The engine generates 13.5 lb/ft of torque and a max 8.5bhp with a max speed of 120km/h It's a neat concept. If it makes it into production I can see it making strong competition for the North American Smart Car since it has about the same capacity. I'll stick with the Prius since I like the capacity and creature comforts
clett, thanks. I did not know either of the Audi Duo (which today looks like a college engineering class demonstration project rather than a serious development effort) or of the AC-P collaboration with VW (which is very encouraging; I see they modified a Golf back in 1998 using lead-acid batteries: http://www.acpropulsion.com/Press%20releas...es/VW_EVS15.htm ).
dont use parentheses or anything after the ending of your link. it gets included when you click on it and it wont work.
That is too bad. I would have considered to be a commute car for 264 MPG even at a price tag of $25k (if I did not already have 2 Prius).