VW Confirms 1L Concept Will Become Reality in 2010
Image source: Wikipedia
There’s been talk about the VW 1L concept for years. Since VW built the original, fuel economy, safety, price, and release date has been speculated upon and argued about, and I’d finally stopped thinking it was ever going to happen. However, according to VW’s CEO, it should hit the market in 2010.
The VW 1L is so named because, in theory, it only consumes one liter of fuel per 100 kilometers traveled. For those of us in the US, this translates into about 235 MPG. Definitely far and above anything on the market currently. The concept, developed in 2002, actually got better fuel economy, scoring a sweet .89L/100km in VW testing. It’s likely to use more fuel in real world use, but with that kind of mileage in testing it’s unlikely that anyone would complain about an “unsatisfactory 200 MPG.”
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The thing is, that kinda of fuel economy comes at the price of riding in an extremely small two seater, with the two seats being one in front of the other, a la jet plane, rather than a standard side by side. The 1L also looks frighteningly close to the ground, which is part of how it pulls off a drag coefficient of .159, much better than any current production vehicle. While the final design isn’t done, VW will probably power the car with a 1 cyclinder diesel engine of displacement lower the .5 L, meaning the car’s speed will top out at 120 km/h.
The other obvious issue is the one I’m sure you’re all wondering about too. How safe is this thing? While I’m not usually one to complain about small cars, the 1L is extremely light and low to the ground. If it were released in the US I could easily see it being run over by any old F150 or Hummer. Nothing is out right now about safety, but as the production date nears, I’m sure VW will be doing lots of testing to reassure the public.
2010 isn’t that far off, in fact, it’s about the same time the Volt is supposed to be hitting the streets, so you’ll likely hear a lot more good and bad about this car in the coming months.
Posts Related to VW’s 1L and other Green Car Technology:
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Source: Motorauthority
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Biking in to work, the thing you notice is that *everyone* is driving to work alone. Apparently, people don’t carpool and they don’t take public transportation, they don’t bike and (probably) they don’t live very close to where they work.
I breathe the many exhaust fumes from the 4000lbs of machine hauling the 150lbs of person around.
So I hope the green car “status symbol” thing takes over and the 40 sq ft massive SUV “status symbol” thing dies - the world will be *objectively* better for it.
It’s pretty sad that I drive a 2001 Echo, getting 41 - 47 mpg, and that 7 years later there is absolutely nothing better on the market unless you want to add $10k for a Prius.
I have 171k on the car, and hope it will last until the Aptera or 1L are available.
I commute 70 miles round per day, and the savings would be significant. I don’t care what it looks like, and the best safety equipment is the common sence of the driver.
I work with a lot of used cars dealers. Even with the rising gas prices people are not flocking to the Tiny compacts. Perhaps thats only because they offer 10-20 mpg than the more comfortable less efficient cars, but the motivation doesn’t seem strong enough for the main stream car buyer yet.
I love the idea of all these extremely fuel efficient cars, but they all look so weird. They should make a car like this except with a reasonable body style, but if not, i dont care it will still be awesome to have a car that gets i liter every 100k.
how much will it cost?
Don’t worry about safety, by 2010 there will be no F150 or Hummers left on the road.
Bigger? You’ve got to be kidding. I commute 50 miles every day, and 98% of the cars I pass have only one passenger. Why are there no one passenger cars that are good at highway speeds? This thing gets super mileage and will carry one passenger at 75 mph…perfect. I’ll take it just like it is as soon as I can get one…they can screw it up later by making it bigger.
Phil
Depending on the price of this car with fuel prices being what they are I believe they would not be able to keep this 200+ mpg car on the lots. I think it looks a lot better than the EV-1 that was supposed to be great.
dear all,
life is just getting a bit silly, as has been mentioned, firstly vw give us a normal golf that we all know and recognize, that will do 70mpg(us)gallon.
DO not give us some space age looking car that, claims
to do 200mpg plus.one step at a time vw otherwise you will trip up, then ford will simply do what you should of done!!!!!!!!!! history repeats itself-bad decisions,yet again from the board room that NEVER understands
reality, or EVER asks people what is a practical solution.
ps - some time ago i drove the vw lupo cousin-seat arosa with the 3cylinder tdi engine, and 64mpg URBAN(uk)gallon,and 70-80mpg(uk), gentle cruise, so vw with a bigger car for the AMERICAN MARKET-give us the golf, the the 70mpg (us)gallon car, stop wasting our time by telling us you might make a few for loan- we the american public want answers now!!! not tomorrow,not the year later,or the year after that if you dont want to build this car ,dont worry,either the japanese will, or to your cost,the AMERICAN PUBLIC will demand the ford motor company to build a similar car.WHAT vw is demonstrating is its complete inablity to make a good decisions, something which is creeping into the german nation.Its the same crazy decision to replace the current vw polo with a design that looks as though a child had something to do with this car!!!!
I would suggest a few changes at vw before your brand is totally forgotten in north america-STOP PUSSY FOOTING WITH YOUR PRODUCTS-START GETTING TO THE FACTS OF WHAT WORKS IN LIFE-GET REAL-WAKE UP,STOP PATTING YOURSELVES ON THE BACK JUST BECAUSE you WON LE MAN 24HRS RACE -WITH THE V12TDI, ARROGANCE IS THE WORD.AND I am SADDENED TO SAY THIS IS NOT THE FIRST TIME GERMANY HAS FALLEN INTO THIS THINKING TRAP———– BEWARE VW/audi board of director (remember1939)
Gush, with all these efforts in gas saving technology, I bet vehicle gas consumption will reduce dramatically in a few years and Texans can still enjoy their big ugly trucks and SUVs with a reasonable gas price very soon.