FRANKFURT MOTOR SHOW: VW e-Golf and e-up!

Last week it revealed the all-new Golf R hot hatch and now Volkswagen has lifted the lid on two less exciting production cars that will also make their global debuts at the Frankfurt motor show on September 10.

More mundane than the 199kW Golf R it may be, but with a claimed running costs of just €3 ($A4.50) per 100km, Volkswagen claims its new e-up! is the world’s most efficient car.

Revealed simultaneously, VW says the e-Golf costs just €3.30 ($A4.90) per 100km to run, based on the same German electricity price of €0.258 (38 cents Australian) per kWh.

Europe biggest car-maker points out that both electrified models, which are unlikely to be sold in Australia any time soon, ask few compromises from their buyers by offering four doors and a host of standard equipment, including automatic climate-control (in this case with a “parking heater and ventilation”) satellite-navigation, windscreen heating, LED daytime running lights and, in the e-Golf, the Volkswagen’s brand’s first LED headlights.

Consuming a benchmark-setting 11.7kWh of electricity per 100km, the four-seat e-up! eschews the standard model’s 1.0-litre petrol engine in favour of a lithium-ion battery-powered electric motor that produces 60kW and 210Nm.

VW says the pint-size EV can hit 100km in 12.4 seconds, making it almost a second quicker than the petrol version, on its way to a 130km/h top speed. The e-up! is also claimed to offer a generous 160km driving range on one battery charge (18.7kWh).

Fitted with a larger (24.2kWh) battery and more powerful (85kW/270Nm) motor, the bigger five-seat e-Golf consumes 12.7kWh per 100km and has a range of 190km. It’s claimed to hit 100km/h in 10.4 seconds and a 140km/h top speed

Both models come with two driving modes (Eco and Eco+) and four regenerative braking modes (D1, D2, D3 and B) that help to extend the driving range, which Volkswagen says is ample for German city-dwellers.

That’s because studies by the German transport ministry found that around 80 per cent of all car drivers in the country drive fewer than 50km a day.

Combined with quick-charge outlets that can recharge both cars’ batteries to 80 per cent of capacity in around half an hour, Volkswagen says cars like the e-up! and e-Golf are the perfect solutions to emissions-free motoring in the world’s major cities.

“Over the past decade, Volkswagen has already systematically sketched out a schedule for the future in its powertrain and fuel strategy, which included starting points for electric vehicles like the e-up! and e-Golf,” said VW this week.

“This strategy sets up a timeline with realistic time windows for the introduction of alternative drive systems such as the hybrid, electric and hydrogen-based systems. In this scenario, the all-electric drive system – which will be demonstrated by the new e-up! and e-Golf – represents an indispensable and sensible supplemental drive system.

“That is because electric cars utilise renewable energy sources and enable zero-emissions mobility in metropolitan areas. Nonetheless, well into the future Volkswagen will continue to promote an intelligent mix of the most efficient drive systems.”

However, Volkswagen Group Australia spokesman Karl Gehling told motoring.com.au neither electrified model will be sold in Australia in the near future.

“Based on current demand in that segment and the infrastructure available here, we have no plans at the moment," he said.

“We obviously have to have the demand before we bring these sorts of vehicles here – the EV segment simply isn’t big enough in Australia yet."