Parked on a suburban facet street, David Energy’s Volkswagen XL1 seems as if it has simply landed from outer area. One in all its two butterfly doorways is open, attracting curious passers-by.
“Everybody stops to take a look at it,” he says, clearly having fun with their delight. This miniature two-seat coupé (the occupants sit barely offset) is a diesel-engined plug-in hybrid with a carbonfibre physique, digital facet ‘mirrors’ and a drag coefficient of simply 0.186 – 2.5 instances decrease than a up to date Volkswagen Golf.
Its 800cc two-cylinder engine produces solely 46bhp and its electrical motor 26bhp, nevertheless it weighs a mere 795kg.
The XL1 began life within the early 2000s as a growth mission for fuel-saving and emissions-reduction applied sciences, and the 2013 manufacturing model might do a claimed 313mpg in diesel-electric mode or 140mpg in diesel mode whereas emitting simply 21g/km of CO2.
David picks up the story: “The XL1 took 10 years to develop and was Volkswagen chairman Ferdinand Piëch’s dream of a 1.0-litre automobile – that’s, one able to travelling 100km on one litre of gasoline. It was additionally a mission to drive down carbon emissions, however the [Dieselgate] scandal broke simply because it was launched.
“So VW on the one hand designing a diesel that would do 300mpg and on the opposite dishonest [in official emissions tests] did not look good!”.
Because the founding father of Powerflex, a designer and producer of suspension components, David is unsurprisingly fascinated by the XL1’s engineering. “It isn’t a range-extender,” he explains. “The rear-mounted diesel engine and electrical motor can work collectively or independently of one another. With sufficient cost, it should run in EV mode solely, and the motor and engine work collectively once you speed up onerous.
“The 313mpg determine is achieved within the drive cycle when it makes use of plenty of battery and never a lot diesel. On a protracted journey, it makes use of extra of the diesel engine, and I’ve had 150mpg out of it. It has no energy steering and does not have to.
It is beautiful to drive and may speed up fairly briskly. What I like is that it is a correct VW product. The physique is stiff however the automobile rides nicely; the suspension has good journey and management.”.
David reckons the XL1’s tyres are narrower than a Citroën 2CV’s. VW made 250 XL1s, all of them with left-hand drive, and of the 200 earmarked for retail, solely 30 have been supplied to the UK. New, every value £100,000.
