What you see here is an all-electric car that looks like a standard VW Golf. Since its launch in 2014, the e-Golf has been at the forefront of Volkswagen’s electric car range. In its latest guise, the car has received new battery technology, revised styling and improved driving range.
VW has enhanced the efficiency of the e-Golf and the result is a real-world driving range improvement of 50 per cent as compared to the outgoing model. A range of 186 miles is quoted from the official New European Driving Cycle, while with driving style and other parameters considered, the range is effectively 124 miles. This is thanks to an increase in the energy capacity of the e-Golf’s lithium-ion battery from 24.2 kWh to 35.8 kWh.
Power is increased to 100 kW, or 136bhp which means the performance figures are improved too, with the 0 to 100kmph time now being 9.6 seconds. Torque is boosted from 270Nm to 290Nm. Like before, all the power is sent to the road via a single-speed gearbox.
As for the tech upgrades, the e-Golf comes standard with a 9.2-inch display for the infotainment system that includes satellite navigation with European maps and a voice recognition system. An additional feature inhere includes Car-Net ‘Guide and Inform Plus’ which shows traffic alerts, fuel pricing, parking space availability and weather conditions. Completing the interior of the e-Golf is the optional Active Info Display, which replaces the traditional instrumentation with a 12.3-inch high-resolution screen that can be personalised.
The e-Golf has traditionally been built in Wolfsburg in Germany but it is now being produced in Dresden, too, at Volkswagen’s ‘Transparent Factory’. It joins the existing Golf range which includes 3 and 5-door models with petrol-electric plug-in hybrid and the high performance GTI drivetrain.
