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Volkswagen Introduced 261 MPG Diesel/Electric Hybrid

The XSL-1 is not exactly a powerhouse. It reportedly has a top speed of just 99 mph, and in all-electric mode, it can manage just 50 mph. Acceleration is fairly poor: Going 0 to 60 takes 11.5 seconds. But with its batteries fully charged and 2.6-gallon gas tank loaded, it has a range of 700 miles. Not bad for about $10 of gas.

And now for the bad news. Hand-built in Osnabrück, Austria, the Volkswagen XL-1 is expected to have a production run of just 1,000 units and sell for about $50,000 each. (Most customers are expected to lease, not buy, the car.) And it’s not expected to ever be available in the United States. In fact, Volkswagen expects virtually all XL-1 sales to be limited to Germany and Austria. http://news.wyotech.edu/post/2013/03/volkswagen-introduced-261-mpg-diesel-electric-hybrid

110-MPG Jeep Renegade Concept Gets 400 Miles With Diesel-Electric Combo: Detroit Auto Show Preview

The Jeep Renegade Concept is powered by dual 200-kW (268 -hp) electric motors juiced from a lithium-ion battery pack. The Renegade uses one electric motor per axle, a true low range and locking differentials, which, if brought to production, would bring true 4X4 capability to the world alternative fuel vehicles.

Like Chrysler’s ecoVoyager concept, the Renegade’s electric mode has a range of 40 miles. However, utilizing a range extender 1.5-liter 3-cylilnder BLUETEC diesel engine, this Jeep can handle a 400-mile trip. The whole shebang translates into fuel economy as high as 110 mpg. www.popularmechanics.com/cars/news/4244409

Bosch is hoping that diesel will reach just a 10 percent North American market share by 2015. Diesel definitely has some advantages, including 30 percent better fuel economy overall, huge driving range (up to 800 miles) and widespread availability (it’s in 52 percent of American gas stations).

Diesels were starting to make a comeback around 2008, but then the economy tanked and fuel prices (of both gasoline and diesel) spiked. Diesel lost a modest price advantage at the pumps, and many clean diesel projects were canceled. The fuel is on an uphill trajectory now: 30 percent of consumers say they’d consider a clean diesel as of August 2011, versus just 13 percent in 2006.

On European cars with a diesel option, such as the VW Jetta and Audi A3, 35 percent of American consumers are now checking the box. Chevrolet is set to offer a diesel option on the Cruze (right) in 2013, and that same year Chrysler will have a common rail diesel in the Jeep Grand Cherokee.

But I don’t expect to see diesels dominate in the American market anytime soon — we’re too set in our ways, and hybrids and EVs have captured more of the public’s attention. Bosch predicts that we might have 3.1 million EVs of all types — hybrids, plug-in-hybrids and battery electrics — being sold annually by 2020. But since the world vehicle market (including trucks) could top 107 million by then, the numbers aren’t huge. In 2020, only 0.9 percent of light vehicles (less than six tons) will be electric cars or plug-in hybrids, and 2.2 percent hybrids, the company says.

You have to contrast that with the bullish projections of the Electrification Coalition, which thinks that 75 percent of all the vehicle miles traveled by 2040 will be “electric miles.” The truth may be somewhere between these two poles. http://www.mnn.com/green-tech/transportation/blogs/forget-electric-vehicles-here-come-the-50-mpg-gas-and-diesel-cars

VW forecasts that a plug-in diesel-electric hybrid system as in the CrossBlue would be rated at 35 mpg in a city/highway mix, and 89 mpg-equivalent in electric mode.

The diesel-electric hybrid concept recalls the Partnership for a New Generation of Vehicles, a joint venture begun in 1993 between the government and U.S. automakers. It was designed to suspend anti-trust concerns and eliminate red tape for a cooperative effort to create 80-mpg family sedans with mainstream prices.

Never happened. Too expensive.

The only way that car companies could come close to the mileage goal was with diesel-electric hybrid powertrains. But diesels, which get superior mileage, are inherently more costly than gasoline engines. Electric motors, big battery packs and high-tech controllers to make it all work together likewise were — still are — pretty dear.

PNGV was canceled in 2001. The project yielded demonstration vehicles rated 72 to 80 mpg, but they couldn’t be priced right. http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/cars/2013/01/14/vw-diesel-electric-hybrid-detroit-show/1828117/