Volkswagen on road to carbon-free car

Wednesday, 24 August 2011 01:23 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Reuters: Volkswagen will within two weeks unveil one of the first single-seater cars, with the potential for zero emissions, the Financial Times reported on Monday.

VW’s one-seat concept car will illustrate the carmaker’s ambitions to build electric vehicles that generate no carbon dioxide, the FT said, citing the company’s head of research, Jurgen Leohold.

“It’s a new kind of mobility, a new vehicle concept. Also, it’s physics,” he said.

“If you limit a car to one person, you can make it smaller with less weight. You need less energy to transport the person, and then ... it can be better on CO2 and fuel efficiency.”

The German carmaker also plans to offer a “full-service package” for customers of its electric cars by selling them power from renewable sources.

It is planning to build two hydropower plants in Brazil.

Leohold said the car’s CO2 count “depends on what kind of electricity you put in the battery,” but if it was powered from renewable sources, it would be “zero.”