Kiamat Makin Dekat : 300 MPG VW XL1 Hybrid

The following video shows the Volkswagen XL1 Hybrid whose fuel efficiency yields 300 miles per gallon.  That is travelling from KL to Penang and then coming back to Taiping on one UK gallon of fuel (4.5 litres or RM10.00).  Presently my fuel bill to Penang is about RM120.00. To double back to Taiping will empty the tank ie RM160.00. So this VW XL1 will be 16 times cheaper. Watch the video. The test drive actually got 400 miles per gallon. Fantastic.

Here is some news :

 

300mpg Diesel-Electric Hybrid Unveiled by Volkswagen

April 17, 2014 

The star of this week's Qatar motor show will undoubtedly be Volkswagen's "one-liter car," the diesel hybrid XL1, which is able to achieve more than 300 mpg.

The $60,000 XL1 is powered by an 800cc, two-cylinder turbodiesel powerplant (half a BlueMotion engine), producing 47bhp, supported by a 27bhp electric motor hat fuelled by lithium-ion batteries. The batteries can be charged from a domestic plug, allowing the car to travel 22 miles solely on electric power.

Over the past decade governments worldwide have been pressing the automotive industry for better gas mileage, better fuel economy in vehicles, and other sources of energy. The XL1 fulfills all these requirements.

The XL1 also emits just 24g/km of CO2 and has a 0-60 time of 11.9 seconds. Its 10-liter diesel tank gives the XL1 a range of around 340 miles. Adding to the XL1's remarkable fuel efficiency is the fact that the car has been designed to be as light as possible, with an unpainted carbon fiber skin over a magnesium-alloy subframe.

Efforts to pare weight extend to the engine, transmission, suspension, carbon fiber wheels, aluminum brakes, titanium hubs and ceramic bearings, producing a vehicle weighing only 1,752 pounds.

The XL1 is the brainchild of Volkswagen group former head Ferdinand Piëch, who initiated the project in 1998. Volkswagen's designers and engineers responded to Piëch's challenge, immediately setting about producing a carbon-fiber bodied car with tandem seating and a single-piston engine. 

In 2002, in his last public appearance as chairman, Piëch drove to a VW shareholders meeting in Hamburg in the prototype, and even then managed to beat the fuel-consumption target that he had set his engineers. Following Piëch's leaving Volkswagen, the project was essentially shelved until Piëch's replacement, Martin Winterkorn, along with Volkswagen's research and development head Ulrich Hackenberg, revisited the concept and developed the twin-cylinder hybrid L1, which appeared at the Frankfurt Motor Show in 2009.

The VW XL1 is now is in production form. It has been 14 years in the making. The price was USD150,000 just a few years ago. Now the price has come down to USD60,000. That is about RM200,000.

The idea is to get it cheaper. I think this car will ultimately sell for less than USD30,000 or less than RM100,000 but not in Malaysia.  In Malaysia this car may not be allowed into the country. Or it will be taxed 300% or more to make it unaffordable. (Kita kan bodoh sombong).

In the meantime here is the Proton 2020 model :

It has four tyres, airbags, engine and all. Proton has to make one small modification, they will change the badge (that is a Mitsubishi badge ok sshhhhhhhh..). 

 

Here is the kiamat. With this type of fuel efficiency, the world fuel consumption by automobiles should decrease 90%. At the same time oil is being discovered in large quantities all over the world.  Oil prices are going to get depressed or remain stagnant. Cost of oil production is going to increase. Oil earnings will be impacted.

The Arab countries are one product economies. So is Brunei. In Malaysia Petronas contributes RM60b - RM80b every year to the gomen to spend and splurge endlessly with little or no productivity improvement in the economy. Kiamat makin dekat.