The 2013 Volkswagen XL1 diesel hydbrid is the most aerodynamic and fuel-efficient hybrid ever produced (Click Image To Enlarge)
Smaller than a Golf and lower than a Boxster, Volkswagen's XL1 looks like a bijou supercar. It has a sleek, thigh-high, carbon-fiber composite body, butterfly wing doors, a mid-mounted powertrain, and a seven-speed dual-clutch transmission. The XL1 is a supercar of a different sort, though. It won't hit 200 mph, but it will go more than 200 miles on a single gallon of diesel.
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In fact, on the official European combined driving cycle, the XL1 is rated at 261 mpg. European and American fuel-consumption tests are quite different, but VW engineers say an equivalent combined EPA city/highway number would be about 20 percent lower -- say, 209 mpg. What does that mean? It means you could drive the 2800 miles from Santa Monica Pier to downtown Manhattan on about 55 bucks' worth of fuel. And a bit of electricity.
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Perhaps what's most remarkable about this little diesel/electric plug-in hybrid, however, is that it wouldn't be stuck in the freeway slow lane the whole way. With a combined system output of just 68 hp and 103 lb-ft, acceleration is understandably modest -- VW claims 0-60 mph takes about 12.5 seconds -- but during our brief test drive, the XL1 was content to happily bowl along a Swiss freeway at 70-75 mph, the diesel twin purring at a little over 2100 rpm. The XL1's top speed is electronically limited to 100 mph.
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Duck under the door and into the cabin of the XL1, and you're greeted with a lot of familiar-looking VW hardware, right down to the instruments and switchgear, though most of it is actually bespoke to the XL1. The steering wheel is small, with a flattened base, and the DSG shifter looks like a three-quarter-scale version of the one you'll find in a Golf GTI. The small, fixed nav screen is the Garmin unit from the Up!, VW's cute little city car.
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You don't so much fire the XL1 up as switch it on. The hybrid system gives primacy to the 27-hp electric motor wherever possible. Squeeze the long-travel accelerator pedal and the XL1 oozes away with a distant high-pitched whine. The 47-hp, 800cc parallel twin diesel -- architecturally, it's one half of VW Group's 1.6-liter TDI four -- sounds like one of those air mattress inflation pumps when it first fires up, a rapid chocka-chocka-chocka-chocka-chocka-chocka in your right ear.
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The electric motor is situated between the diesel engine and the seven-speed DSG transmission. At low speeds and with modest accelerator inputs, the XL1 will run a considerable distance solely on electric power before the diesel kicks in. Press a button, and the XL1 will stay in pure EV mode for up to 30 miles, courtesy of a 5.5-kW-hr lithium-ion battery pack allowing emissions-free running in city areas. Management of the power flow is impressive: Only when the chocka-chocka of the little diesel overwhelms the whine of the electric motor are you aware of any change in how forward motion is being accomplished. The transitions are smooth and seamless.
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Just like any supercar, the XL1 demands compromises. It's noisy because there is very little sound deadening, which helps keep overall weight to just 1750 lb. Not only do you clearly hear both engines, but you also hear the tires on the pavement, the suspension working over the bumps, and the curious rasp of the tiny carbon-ceramic disc brakes as you came to halt. VW engineers considered an active noise cancellation system, but discarded the idea because of weight and the fact that it would consume precious power. Mechanical noise is part of the XL1 experience, just like it is in a Pagani Huayra.
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What you don't hear much of, however, is the wind. With a Cd of just 0.189, the XL1 is the most aerodynamic production car in history. It cleaves the air like a hot knife through butter, and, at 50 mph or more, the dull roar of the tires effectively cancels out any engine noise.
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It's been many years since we've driven a new car without power steering, so the XL1's manual system is at first a bit of a shock. It's heavy in tight turns at slow speeds, and loads up in faster corners. But you do know exactly what's going on with the front tires. It's old school and kind of entertaining. The regenerative braking system, by contrast, is almost state of the art in pedal feel and consistency.
VW has not announced a price for the XL1, saying only that it will offer what it calls "innovative financing" to get customers into the car, and that just 250 will be virtually hand-built on a special production line at VW's Osnabrück plant in northwestern Germany. Simple auto industry economics suggest this is easily the most expensive Volkswagen ever made -- after all, supercar technologies mean a supercar price tag -- and that it's a money loser. So why build it? "It's a lighthouse car," says VW Group R&D chief Ulrich Hackenberg. "This is the technology spearhead of the VW Group, and all the brands will benefit."
COMMENTARY: The XL1 is powered by a source of 800cc two-cylinder turbo power (half engine BlueMotion), producing 47bhp. It supports the 27bhp electric motor that is powered by a lithium ion battery. These can be imposed on internal plug, which allows the car to travel 35 km (22 miles) on electricity alone. The electric motor can also be used to support the torque of the diesel engine in the "full throttle acceleration, lifting the figure of £ 74m to £ 103 feet, but it also contributes to the overall effectiveness is well beyond the regular production cars. XL1 8bhp only requires to maintain a constant speed of 62 mph, however, requires a 1.6 TDI Golf 18bhp to accomplish the same feat. The result is a car that you can go back and let 313.9 mpg only 24g/km of CO2 - the same time allowing a maximum speed of 100 mph (electronically limited) and 0-62 mph time of 11.9sec. Despite its relatively small 10-liter tank of diesel, there are several XL1 about 340 km.
In its press release of February 27, 2013, here's what Volkswagen said about the XL1:
"Volkswagen to produce XL1 by handcrafting-like production methods at its Osnabrück plant in Germany
XL1 is the most aerodynamic production car ever
0.9 litre combined fuel consumption was a vision – now it is a reality
Wolfsburg, 21 February 2013 – The XL1 from Volkswagen is the most fuel-efficient production car in the world, with a fuel consumption value of 0.9 l/100 km. Thanks to its plug-in hybrid system, the two-seater can also cover a distance of up to 50 km in all-electric mode and therefore with zero local emissions.
The XL1 is an automotive hero that follows pure sports car design principles: low weight (795 kg), perfect aerodynamics (Cd 0.189) and a low centre of gravity (1,153 mm high). This gives the efficient Volkswagen the ability to cruise on the road at a constant speed of 100 km/h using just 6.2 kW / 8.4 PS. In all-electric mode, the XL1 requires less than 0.1 kWh to cover a driving distance of over one kilometer.
High-tech lightweight design, perfect aerodynamics and a plug-in hybrid system – consisting of a two-cylinder TDI engine (35 kW / 48 PS), E-motor (20 kW / 27 PS), 7-speed dual clutch gearbox (DSG) and lithium-ion battery – all make it possible for the new Volkswagen XL1 to emit just 21 g/km of CO2. If necessary, the XL1, with a top speed of 160 km/h, can accelerate to 100 km/h in just 12,7 seconds. Clearly, 0.9 l/100 km fuel consumption is a record figure that has not been achieved by any other vehicle to date, and it illustrates how Volkswagen is redefining what is technically feasible in carmaking.
Conceptually, the XL1 represents the third evolutionary stage of Volkswagen’s 1-litre car strategy. When the new millennium was ushered in, Prof. Dr. Ferdinand Piëch, who is today Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Volkswagen AG, formulated the visionary goal of bringing to market a production car that was practical in everyday use with fuel consumption of one litre per 100 km. In the two-seat XL1, this vision has become reality. Despite the tremendous efficiency of the XL1, developers successfully came up with a body concept, which delivers more everyday utility than in the two previous prototypes. While the driver and passenger sat in a tandem arrangement for optimal aerodynamics in the L1, the 1-litre car presented in 2002 and in 2009, in the XL1 two occupants sit slightly offset, side by side, nearly as in a conventional vehicle.
The XL1 is 3,888 mm long, 1,665 mm wide and just 1,153 mm tall. By usual automotive standards these are extreme dimensions. For comparison: a Polo has a similar length (3,970 mm) and width (1,682 mm) but is significantly taller (1,462 mm). Even a purebred sports car like today’s Porsche Boxster is 129 mm taller (1,282 mm). So, the XL1 will make a spectacular appearance – a car of the future, built for today."
VW Group chairman Martin Winterkorn promised it will be available by 2013 “at an affordable price.” Car & Driver Magazine thinks that the VW XL1 will be somewhere around the equivalent of $50,000. Qatar won’t get it—and the U.S. probably won’t, either—but this is just the thing European eco-warriors have been waiting for.
Sorry USA. American's would buy them all at $50,000 a pop.
Courtesy of an article appearing in the June 2013 issue of Motor Trend Magazine, an article dated August 1, 2013 appearing in All About Super Thunderspeed Cars, an article dated March 18, 2013 appearing in The Superslice and a video uploaded on YouTube on February 27, 2013
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