VW E-UP – Green Beetle of the future?

There has been a wait of several years for this cute little concept, and now the fully electric powered Volkswagen E-Up has finally arrived.  It was firstly packaged as the Up! with a rear engine layout and was immediately labelled as the replacement for the Beetle: A ‘car for the people’ for the future.

This little motor carries 240kg of lithium-ion batteries, but remarkably still only weighs just 1085 kg, and is 3.2-meters long.  It has 18 kW hours energy capacity that charges in 5 hours, and should enable a driving distance of around 80 miles, depending on driving style.  The E-Up has a 0-62mph time of 11.3 seconds and puts out an impressive 210Nm of torque with a maximum speed of 85mph, quite nippy for a little city car carrying four passengers.

The interior design of the E-Up is also very interesting.  It features a 3+1 folding seat layout so the cabin can be altered with most of the seats being able to fold down for even more luggage loading space.  The total load space is 80 litres rising to 320 litres when the seats are folded.

There is a solar roof panel measuring 1.4 square meters which power the heating system and also helps to further extend the life of the batteries.  The batteries are protected by a specially designed crash structure and are kept cool by a series of heat exchangers.

This city car is designed to offer a zero-emissions alternative for people who only travel short distances.

The E-Up will take to the stage at the Frankfurt Motor Show this week and is scheduled for launch at the end of next year.

Until this cute little electric car is available lease a Volkswagen Beetle from £225.21 per month.