FRANKFURT: The Frankfurt auto show hummed with talk of electric cars Wednesday, but the luxury vehicles on display were often equipped with hybrid motors, with experts predicting drivers will continue to roll with a variety of power sources for some time.
Among the roughly 100 world premiers at the show was Volkswagen’s E-Up!, a zero-emission, or all electric city car that would run up to 130 kilometers (80 miles) on a five-hour charge from a 230-volt network.
As with all electric cars, the VW model’s range depends on driving styles, and charging times for its lithium-ion battery are longer from 110-volt power grids. It is also a so-called concept car that could first hit the streets in 2013, the company said.
A probable rival is Daimler’s smart for two electric drive that is already rolling off a production line in France and derives from a model that has been tested in London since 2007.
Top speeds in electric cars are typically modest, 135 km/h (miles per hour) for the E-Up! and a deliberately limited 100 kph for the Smart to extend its range to 135 kilometers and because it is designed for urban use.
Electric models were presented by many manufacturers including Ford and Opel, but Ford Europe’s Chairman John Fleming told AFP he was not sure they were the last word in auto power sources. “My personal view is that it will be a range of technologies that will come through,” he said, though Ford happily went with the electric vehicle (EV) flow by presenting two prototypes.
An ambitious project unveiled by Renault and the US group Better Place aimed to sell at least 100,000 EVs in Israel and Denmark by 2016.
Success would create the first mass market for such vehicles and is based on the family-sized Fluence, which has a range of 160 kilometers (100 miles) and was presented by Renault at the show.
Better Place has developed the concept of a “Quick Drop” option that would allow drivers to exchange depleted batteries for a fully-charged one in less time than it takes to fill up a tank with petrol, extending the EV’s practical range.
The cars would also take standard overnight charges or a 20-minute booster shot that would replenish 80 percent of its power.
BMW’s electric Mini drew plenty of attention as well, and is in the midst of trials in Germany and the United States, with Britain set to complete a trio of test environments for the cars by regular customers in late October.
Project manager Peter Krams said over pumping Indie Dance music that the tests would run until July and the group would then decide where to go with development.
“There are many things that have not been defined” by EV regulators that will partly determine the rate of development, he told AFP, while battery cost remained another hurdle.
But even the iconic east German brand Trabant was thinking in EV terms, showing a concept that echoed its old car with a stylized smile up front seen elsewhere on small EVs.
As autos moved upscale however, hybrid models dominated, with a cutting edge study shown on BMW’s Efficient Dynamics stand, a concept car with two electric motors on front and rear axels and a 1.6-liter diesel engine as well.