Imagenation Cars

• Volkswagen Presents Golf blue-e-motion Concept to German Chancellor

• Golf powered by zero-emissions electric motor to launch in 2013

• Golf blue-e-motion with 150 km range will also satisfy driving needs
  of commuters

Wolfsburg / Berlin, 03 May 2010 - Today, German Chancellor Dr. Angela
Merkel will have a close look at a concept of the future Golf blue-e-motion
in Berlin. Volkswagen is forging new links to the era of electric mobility
with this pure electric drive version of the most successful European car
ever produced. In 2013, after the debut of the Up blue-e-motion (a new city
specialist), the Golf blue-e-motion and the technically closely-related
Jetta blue-e-motion will launch on the market. In the same timeframe, the
Lavida blue-e-motion will also launch in China. The stated objective:
Volkswagen wants to use bestsellers such as the Golf to take electric
vehicles out of their niche model status and to become the market leader for
a new type of sustainable mobility by 2018. This strategy coincides with
planning by the German federal government, which would like to see about one
million electric vehicles on the streets by 2020.

Prof. Dr. Martin Winterkorn, Chairman of the Board of Management of
Volkswagen AG: "Future electric cars give us enormous opportunities for
reshaping mobility to be even more sustainable. When it comes to the
environment, however, we must ensure that the energy used to operate these
electric cars is produced from renewable sources. Since automotive
manufacturers do not have any influence on the types of power plants that
are built, the federal government must ensure that eco-friendly energy
sources are utilised. Only then will we experience a genuine transition to a
new era."

In parallel with the electric vehicle offensive, Volkswagen is
accelerating the introduction of new hybrid models as well. The new Touareg
Hybrid is already on the market; in 2012 a hybrid version of the Jetta will
debut, then in 2013 the Golf Hybrid and Passat Hybrid will launch. Just as
methodically, Volkswagen will continue its development work on advanced and
extremely efficient petrol, diesel and natural gas engines (TDI, TSI,
EcoFuel), because it is an indisputable fact that a wide variety of drive
technologies will coexist far into the future. "This makes it all the more
important for the German federal government to proactively support the
introduction of new technologies. With regard to electric mobility, the
current temporary exemption of E-cars from taxes is inadequate," says Prof.
Dr. Winterkorn. The Volkswagen chief continues: "Starting in 2013 - the
launch year for many new electric vehicles - the purchase of cars with
zero-emissions drive systems should be promoted with a sustainability
incentive. France, for example, has already pledged a cash incentive of
several thousand Euros to buyers. We need to send such a signal in Germany
as well. Moreover, and this is no less important, the German federal
government must very quickly make provisions for broad coverage with a
network of recharging stations across the republic, so that the
infrastructure is available at the same time the electric car offensive is
launched. Each new recharging station will also reinforce the public's trust
in the everyday utility of electric vehicles. Both of these components -
state-funded incentives and infrastructure - are crucial and cannot endure
any delay."

Golf blue-e-motion concept car - highly anticipated

The Golf blue-e-motion concept being presented to German Chancellor
Angela Merkel will be powered by an electric motor integrated in the engine
compartment in front, and its power of 85 kW / 115 PS drives the car
silently. Like all electric motors, the motor used in the Golf also outputs
a very high maximum torque (270 Newton-meter) right from a stop. The result:
more fun in zero-emissions driving. The electricity for driving the electric
motor is stored in a lithium-ion battery with a capacity of 26.5
kilowatt-hours.

A driving range of up to 150 kilometres can be realised in the Golf
blue-e-motion; the specific range depends on driving style and factors such
as use of the air conditioning and heating system. This range meets the
needs of most German commuters: According to the German Federal Statistical
Office, 6 of every 10 people in the workforce commute by car - on average
45.8 percent drive less than 10 kilometres (one-way commute), another 28.1
percent between 10 and 25 kilometres and 16.2 percent over 25 kilometres.
The Golf blue-e-motion can also handle the driving ranges typically covered
by many service providers. In short-distance driving, the zero-emissions
Golf offers a sustainable solution to private users as well.

More noticeably than on today's modern petrol or diesel engines, the
maximum range of an electric car is severely reduced when its maximum power
is demanded frequently. However, the Golf blue-e-motion - with its top speed
of 140 km/h - provides ample power reserves so that less energy is consumed
while driving, and it can even coast or "sail". "Sailing" occurs whenever
the driver - adopting an anticipatory style of driving - releases the gas
pedal, or more apropos: the electric pedal. As in the drive system of the
Touareg Hybrid, which is being produced today, the motor is then is
disengaged from the drivetrain so that the car can coast with the least
possible drag. The Golf blue-e-motion even recovers kinetically generated
energy by battery regeneration in this mode of driving.

Adapted to the vehicle's architecture, the concept car's battery unit is
located in the bootspace (useful remaining cargo capacity: 237 litres),
under the rear bench seat and in the centre tunnel (between the front
seats). A separate air cooling system ensures a constant thermal environment
in the battery compartment.

As mentioned, all key primary and secondary drive components were
integrated in the engine compartment at the front of the vehicle. In coming
up with this design, developers applied experience they gained in numerous
design studies. As in the E-Up concept car, an integral form of electric
drive is used in the Golf blue-e-motion. Representing the core of the
integral drive are the electric motor together with a transmission and
differential. Energy management is handled by a high-voltage
pulse-controlled inverter, which - along with the 12 Volt electrical
system's DC/DC converter and charging module - is integrated in the compact
integral drive. The entire unit is relatively light and compact. The
five-door and five-seat Golf blue-e-motion, for example, weighs just 205
kilograms more than a comparable Golf BlueMotion TDI with DSG - despite the
fact that electric car batteries are known to be heavy and weigh 1,545
kilograms on the concept car.

Next year, Volkswagen will be testing the drivetrain and energy storage
modules of the future Golf blue-e-motion with a fleet of 500 test cars -
under all conceivable conditions. Essentially, the countdown to production
launch of the future Golf blue-e-motion has already begun. The future is
almost here, especially in Germany, because this is where one million
electric vehicles will be on the roads starting in 2020 - this goal was
resolved by the German federal government on August 2009 and is established
in the "National Development Plan for Electric Mobility." A long road lies
ahead of us until 2020, especially since battery costs certainly need to be
drastically reduced. However, another certainty is that a large number of
the one million electric vehicles of the year 2020 will wear the VW badge.