VW’s TwinDrive plug-in hybrid has now been engineered onto the forthcoming Golf VI platform.
The innovative concept – first seen on a Golf V platform in July this year – is slightly unconventional; utilising the internal combustion engine (either a TDI or TSI unit) to supplement an electric motor, instead of the other way around.
Subsequently the TwinDrive Golf runs at optimal efficiency; employing the E-motor in stop-start urban driving environments, and the internal combustion element of the drivetrain on more flowing highway and rural road networks.
Although the combined power output of the TwinDrive system is rumoured to be 129kW, VW has kept mum on the internal combustion engines - set to constitute either the petrol or diesel element of the drivetrain. An educated guess says it has to be the two new 1.2l engines, available in either TDI or TSI guise, producing approximately 58kW and 75kW respectively.
Although 20 Golf TwinDrives are to be deployed for fleet test purposes, VW is not willing to risk any control unit fuel consumption conjectures yet…We do know the TwinDrive can run 50km on pure electric power and tops out at 120km/h on purely electric drive..
If the control tests prove its worth, Golf TwinDrive could come to market by 2010. The project is sure to attract chagrin from US car makers, as VW and the German government have co-financed the TwinDrive, at a time the US government has given Detroit a cold shoulder.
http://www.wheels24.co.za/Content/News/Environmental/8/837e877a146a43b7b4f762f8227d7df1//Plug_in_your_Golf
Not bad...
The innovative concept – first seen on a Golf V platform in July this year – is slightly unconventional; utilising the internal combustion engine (either a TDI or TSI unit) to supplement an electric motor, instead of the other way around.
Subsequently the TwinDrive Golf runs at optimal efficiency; employing the E-motor in stop-start urban driving environments, and the internal combustion element of the drivetrain on more flowing highway and rural road networks.
Although the combined power output of the TwinDrive system is rumoured to be 129kW, VW has kept mum on the internal combustion engines - set to constitute either the petrol or diesel element of the drivetrain. An educated guess says it has to be the two new 1.2l engines, available in either TDI or TSI guise, producing approximately 58kW and 75kW respectively.
Although 20 Golf TwinDrives are to be deployed for fleet test purposes, VW is not willing to risk any control unit fuel consumption conjectures yet…We do know the TwinDrive can run 50km on pure electric power and tops out at 120km/h on purely electric drive..
If the control tests prove its worth, Golf TwinDrive could come to market by 2010. The project is sure to attract chagrin from US car makers, as VW and the German government have co-financed the TwinDrive, at a time the US government has given Detroit a cold shoulder.
http://www.wheels24.co.za/Content/News/Environmental/8/837e877a146a43b7b4f762f8227d7df1//Plug_in_your_Golf
Not bad...
And ill be saving the planet!