The vehicle was first spotted in Dubai
It looks like the car of the future, thanks to its super light design, and has drawn the public's attention in the streets of Dublin during the third week of October.
Most importantly, the brand new Volkswagen XL1 is the world’s most fuel efficient car produced to date. It is one of the top five finalists for the 2014 World Green Car of the Year, WCOTY, set by the World Car Awards.
The XL1 is a sport 2-door-coupe, vehicles that are usually associated with big fuel consumption, but this diesel-electric hybrid promises performance and it delivers.
This extremely eco-friendly car is powered by a two-cylinder 800cc diesel engine in the back and a lithium-ion battery pack in the front. The battery pack can power the car on full electric for up to 50km and up to speeds of 120km/h before the diesel engine kicks in support.
You can recharge the battery pack from the main's electric in roughly 2 hours and 30 minutes on the Irish electric system, but it also charges while braking, as with other regular hybrid production cars.
As a light car means fuel savings, the brand new XL1 weighs in at just 795kgs, just over half the weight of the average family vehicle. The windows are manual winders, to make weight and fuel economy more effective with low battery and energy consumption.
The new XL1 has been spotted in the streets of Dublin.
The car is also low to the ground and has heavy steering, power steering is absent, which is another part of the general fuel and energy saving plan as studied by Volkswagen engineers. The result is you might have a bit of a workout while driving, but this was the norm, some might remember, before the advent of technology.
Only 250 units of the fuel efficient car have been produced in Germany, with a price of €111,000, and are already sold-out. It is to be considered a production car. Car collectors and design experts are the current purchasers of the XL1, but that may change in the near future.
Hopefully more fuel efficient cars will be put in production and will soon become everyday cars, but for the moment, do not expect to see many XL1s parked outside your supermarket.
It seems we will have to wait some time before such fuel efficient vehicles will become affordable.
In the meantime... download our latest ebook "10 Tips on how to save money on fuel", stay tuned on our blog for more fuel economy news or contact us if you need efficient fuel saving technology for your fleet!