Volkswagen has revealed its intentions to enter the race to build and market ultra-efficient plug-in hybrid vehicles with today’s unveiling of the new Golf Twin Drive. The concept car derives its name from its twin-powerplant design, comprised of an electric motor designed for city driving and an internal combustion engine for longer trips.

Not your everyday hybrid
The electric motor in the Twin Drive produces a peak output of 61kW and allows the Golf to reach a top speed of 120km/h. The motor runs on an array of fast-charging lithium-ion batteries that can be charged from a regular household power outlet. On electric power alone the car can travel up to 50km, enough for most daily trips, but once the batteries are depleted a 91kW 2.0-litre turbodiesel engine takes over.

To boost its range further, the car also features engine stop-start technology and regenerative brakes, which maximize fuel efficiency and recapture energy that would otherwise be lost as heat generated by the friction of the brakes.

Unlike a typical hybrid, where the electric motor and internal combustion engine have the ability to supplement each other for maximum output, the two individual powertrains in the Golf Twin Drive hybrid are isolated and work separately.

Test fleet in 2010
Volkswagen will trial a fleet of 20 Twin Drive Golfs in 2010 together with the German government under a new scheme investigating the future of personal mobility. To ensure the cars are true zero-emissions vehicles, the electrical energy required to charge the batteries under the trial will be generated from renewable resources such as wind and hydro power.

The car is still purely in the concept stage at this point, but it shows what can be done with off-the-shelf technology available today. Another example of what VW has done with real-world hybrid design is the Golf TDI Hybrid first shown at the Geneva Motor Show in March of this year.

Golf TDI Hybrid concept
Also built on the familiar and efficient Golf platform, the Golf TDI Hybrid was a more familiar design mating a small but powerful 55kW diesel engine and an electric motor assist, powered by a small battery pack. Fuel economy ratings for the Golf TDI Hybrid were claimed to reach 3.4L/100km.

Unfortunately, the TDI Hybrid is also only a concept car. At one point it was being considered for production, but VW has decided to hold off on moving forward with the design for the present. Like the plug-in hybrid Golf Twin Drive, the TDI Hybrid is an expensive design. All the extra technology and highly-efficient engine work that goes into the cars would price them out of the market, and out of any sensible approach to saving on fuel costs.

The move toward a test-fleet in 2010 raises hope that VW sees a possibility of future production, but more likely than not, the cars will be used primarily as test beds for the technology and as a means to develop infrastructure and logistics solutions for when plug-in hybrids and diesel-hybrids finally become cost-competitive with standard combustion-engine cars.

Volkswagen Twin Drive Golf Plug-in Hybrid Concept

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