Volkswagen took a kicking over the last few years in regards to diesel emissions and their ability to fib at will about what their cars had been putting out. There were massive fines, governmental inquiries, charges filed, angry Portlandians writing passive-aggressive notes and enough time on the evening news that I’m amazed there isn’t a kid whose first word was, “Dieselgate!” And the company knows that in order to move on and to keep some semblance of faith among the fans, that they really need to pull themselves into the 21st century and into the good graces of the enviro-tweaks ASAP, before they really bury the company under a slew of accusations and virtue signaling.
Actually, it’s a little bit of Volkswagen’s own virtue signaling coming to the rescue in the form of the e-Käfer, or eBeetle. Looks like any old-school VW Bug, right? Yep…except for one serious note: the tweeting little flat-four is gone, replaced with a small package shelf where the engine should be, powered by the electric motor and one-speed transmission from the Volkswagen e-Up! city car. The powertrain is actually a performance improvement (81 horsepower, 155 ft/lbs of torque) but the weight goes up to just over 2,800 pounds curb, and the range is about 124 miles. Not the most appealing option, but for a city car, not bad either. You can also utilize the DC fast charge system to recover 75% of the battery pack in about an hour.
The e-Käfer is a joint-work between Volkswagen and a company called eClassics in Germany. VW is looking directly to electric vehicles as the future and is believed to be working on similar setups for Bus and Porsche 356 setups. Our take: if you go out of your way to have an electric variation of a car last produced for the market forty years ago built, you aren’t saving the planet. You’re just trying to prove to anyone you think cares that you are trying to do your part to save a spotted owl or something like that.
Buzzing Beetle – that sound like the name for a sex toy! I’d like to see a company fitting a four cylinder adapted Porsche motor, Porsche transmission and suspension onto a Beetle chassis. These motors already exist and in turbo form it would be one of the ultimate sleepers.
You need to get you one of them sex toys, Geordie, yer missin’ the point. We’re having the environment shoved down our throats, and another gasoline engine in place ain’t doin’ nothin’. I think it’s strange but an interesting idea, though it ain’t gonna save the planet. The Earth is a pretty resilient biosphere, as evidenced by the last 10,000,000 years, and, while we need to clean up our act, I’m not waking up in the morning, going outside, and screaming at the sky.
Converting old cars makes more sense then building new ones. You are not using as many resources, just changing what has already been used, it’s a much ” greener ” way of manufacturing. On top of that, the CO output of the old is reduced, but one has to consider if the materials and energy needed to build the Electric system is ( green ) and not polluting more then the old flat four would over its lifetime.
My karmann Ghia rund fine on c-16 and a stiff whiff of snooze thank you but ill pass on electricity!