New Volkswagen e-Golf

The new 2017 Volkswagen e-Golf has an increased NEDC driving range of 186 miles.

Compared to its predecessor, the new zero-emission vehicle offers more power, longer range and more features, including fully digital instruments and it’s the world’s first electric car with gesture control.

Volkswagen claims that the e-Golf will have a range of at least 124 miles in real-life driving, an increase of 50% compared to the previous model. This is in part due to a new lithium-ion battery with energy capacity increased from 24.2 kWh to 35.8 kWh.

The battery can be charged to 80 per cent capacity within an hour at a CCS charging station (DC, 40 kW). When charged overnight or during the work day from a wallbox (AC, 7.2 kW), the battery is ready to go again with 100 per cent capacity in less than six hours.

The electric motor now develops 100 kW, which is 15 kW more power than the first version of the e-Golf. At the same time, the maximum torque of the electric motor has been boosted from 270 Nm to 290 Nm. In the USA the car’s fuel economy is 116 MPGe (EPA).

Volkswagen introduced an update of the Golf in Europe a week ago. All relevant new features were also implemented in the latest version of the e-Golf, including modified front and rear designs with new full-LED headlights and full-LED tail lights.

Another new feature of the e-Golf is the standard Active Info Display (digital instruments). It is also the world’s first electric car to launch with an infotainment system that can be operated by gesture control. Gesture control works by a hand swipe gesture to move the menu items to the left or right, allowing the driver to navigate through the main menu, change radio stations, or browse through the playlist or music album covers.

New safety systems include Traffic Jam Assist (semi-autonomous driving up to 38mph), pedestrian monitoring for Front Assist with City Emergency Braking and Emergency Assist (automatic stopping function in case of medical emergency of the driver).