{"id":212,"date":"2013-10-19T16:19:09","date_gmt":"2013-10-19T16:19:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/interplextransportation.com\/blog\/?p=212"},"modified":"2013-10-19T16:19:09","modified_gmt":"2013-10-19T16:19:09","slug":"volkswagen-reaches-for-the-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.interplextransportation.com\/blog\/volkswagen-reaches-for-the-future\/","title":{"rendered":"Volkswagen reaches for the future"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/interplextransportation.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/vwxl11.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-213 alignleft\" alt=\"vwxl11\" src=\"http:\/\/interplextransportation.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/vwxl11-300x199.jpg\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.interplextransportation.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/vwxl11-300x199.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.interplextransportation.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/vwxl11.jpg 628w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a> This is the Volkswagen XL1. It comes as a result of 15 years long effort of the company to build a 235 MPG car (i.e. a vehicle that can burn just one liter of fuel to travel 100 kilometers, or 62.1 miles). To me, it looks like an alien car. And I really, really want to try it out on the road. As I may not have the chance to do so soon, I went through all the reviews I could find online and the result was not what I expected. I still want to try it, but now it would take a miracle to make me buy it. But let\u2019s go to the facts I gathered.<\/p>\n<p>The XL1\u2019s efficiency is already legendary: in windless conditions it needs just 8bhp to maintain a steady 62mph (100km\/h) and it can return up to 313mpg (133km\/l). And yet if you were to deploy all available power it would hit 125mph (200km\/h), although for now it\u2019s governed at 100mph (160km\/h). The twin forces which shaped this car are weight and aerodynamics. Everything possible has been done to optimize these two and some of the things they did just made me laugh &#8211; It doesn&#8217;t have electric windows, for instance, as hand winders weigh less. Really? There are no wing mirrors as these create drag. Instead, tiny rear-facing cameras transmit an image on to a screen on the door panels \u2013 now that\u2019s a good, futuristic idea. But why would they put the screens on the door panels? It\u2019s not like there is something in the mirror\u2019s place. The car has fared-in wheels, skinny tires and an entirely flat bottom.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><a href=\"http:\/\/interplextransportation.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/vwxl12.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-214 aligncenter\" alt=\"vwxl12\" src=\"http:\/\/interplextransportation.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/vwxl12-300x183.jpg\" width=\"300\" height=\"183\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.interplextransportation.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/vwxl12-300x183.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.interplextransportation.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/vwxl12-1024x625.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.interplextransportation.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/vwxl12.jpg 1280w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Inside, the XL1 looks remarkably normal. The car is so radical and challenging, the team said, that they wanted the interior to be familiar, calm and uncluttered. Much of the kit is the same as you&#8217;d find in a Golf. And if I wanted to drive a Golf, I would buy a Golf. If the car looks alien, make it alien all the way.<\/p>\n<p>All the things I read about this car made me realize something. Volkswagen didn\u2019t build it to make an efficient and clean car. They did it because they could.<\/p>\n<p>Under note: Electrical means clean? Where do you think electricity comes from?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This is the Volkswagen XL1. It comes as a result of 15 years long effort of the company to build a 235 MPG car (i.e. a vehicle that can burn just one liter of fuel to travel 100 kilometers, or &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.interplextransportation.com\/blog\/volkswagen-reaches-for-the-future\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2,1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.interplextransportation.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.interplextransportation.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.interplextransportation.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.interplextransportation.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.interplextransportation.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=212"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.interplextransportation.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":215,"href":"https:\/\/www.interplextransportation.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212\/revisions\/215"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.interplextransportation.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=212"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.interplextransportation.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=212"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.interplextransportation.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=212"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}