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Would You Drive the New Volkswagen 1L?
By crooky | May 7, 2008
I know that I normally write about research methodologies on Wednesdays but to be frank, I’m running out of ideas for that category and most of my readers seem to be more interested in the technology and business topics I write about. This week, I want to talk about something that captured my attention: the Volkswagen 1L.
This concept car, originally developed in 2002, looks like someone cut the cockpit out of a 1970s era jet fighter and stuck some wheels on it. That’s cool with me. The name 1L comes from the fact that this car is designed to consume only 1 litre of fuel for every 100km driven. For you heathens that still measure in miles and gallons - 235 MPG. WHAT???? Yes. That’s almost five times as fuel efficient as the Toyota Prius.
The good news is this car is set to hit the market in 2010 (which may mean we see these cars in dealerships as early as September, 2009). How does this car get 235 MPG? It’s got a drag coefficient that’s half that of a normal car. This means that it’s wasting a lot less energy pushing the car through the air. It’s light - carbon fibre construction and it eschews paint to keep the weight down. It’s also tiny. It will have a 500cc, 1 cylinder diesel engine and seats two people - one in front of the other.
The size and shape of this vehicle has a few implications:
1. It’s not going to be the best car in a crash. They have computer simulations that say this car will do “okay” but it’s not going to be as safe as a Volvo.
2. It’s going to look cool/goofy (depending on your perspective)
3. It’s probably going to be classified as a motorcycle for insurance purposes so you’ll be able to drive it in the HOV lane with only one passenger.
235 MPG sounds really great but the real question is - who’s going to buy it? I’ve been shopping around for a second car lately. My business is doing well and my with our third child on the way, my wife wants the car available more often during the day to ferry our numerous and beligerent offspring around. I’ve been looking at the Toyta Yaris which gets gas mileage just shy of the Prius but isn’t a hybrid. While the Yaris is a bit goofy looking, I’d still drive it. Is it much of a stretch to say that I would drive the 1L? Not really, as long as I could wear one of these:
The… uh. The hat. Yes. The hat. What was I talking about? The 1L! Right! So, would you drive one? Take the poll:
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Aaron “Crooky” Cruikshank is the Principal and Founder of Friuch Consulting. He has written professionally about science and technology for ten years.
Topics: Cars, Technology |
May 7th, 2008 at 11:18 am
Conventional cars typically have higher drag coefficients (Cd) as an artifact of aerodynamics that produce the necessary downforce to ensure stability at highway speeds. Given its light weight and low Cd, I would speculate that the VW 1L will have stability issues at highway speeds and be marketed as a city vehicle only. I voted ‘no’ simply because I do a lot of highway driving and this does not sound like the green solution for my application (if Tesla could only sort out their transmission problems I’d jump on one of those in a heartbeat).
May 8th, 2008 at 7:59 pm
In response to the last post, perhaps it would do better on the highway if they put little “wings” on the side…for stability…Come on, it already looks like a 1950’s jet, so why the hell not?
May 9th, 2008 at 1:17 pm
Wings, fins or other aerodynamic elements could be used to improve stability at speed but would have the effect of increasing Cd and thereby reducing fuel economy.
July 9th, 2008 at 7:44 am
hell yah sign me up-i want one