186 mile e-Golf goes on sale around same time as Bolt EV

[ziv]

Recent news ( http://www.myelectriccarforums.com/186-mile-volkswagen-e-golf-on-sale-2-years-sooner-than-expected/ ) says that Volkswagen will be putting their 186-mile e-Golf on sale in either late 2016 or early 2017. That puts it into the market at the same time as the Bolt EV.

It has less range, and is 'older' technology that does use thermal battery management, so it isn't really a competitor. People that need 200 miles won't settle for 186 EV miles.

On the other hand, people that only need 150 or 175 miles (and can't get by with a Nissan LEAF etc), won't need to look at the Bolt EV now. They can go for the e-Golf, which should be almost $10K cheaper too.

 

[michael]

And we can believe what VW says?...

 

[Zoomit]

Whoa--the 186-mi estimate is NEDC which is overly optimistic. The EPA range will be about 130 miles.

 

[GetOffYourGas]

Whoa--the 186-mi estimate is NEDC which is overly optimistic. The EPA range will be about 130 miles.

Or is it? VW's press releases are a little vague and not entirely self-consistent.

The current generation of eGolf is rated at 118 miles (NEDC) / 83 miles (EPA). So 186 miles (NEDC) would translate to roughly 130 miles (EPA).

But digging a little deeper, I found this:
http://www.myelectriccarforums.com/2018-volkswagen-e-golf-to-have-186-miles-of-real-world-range/

The current e-Golf is 190 kilometers [118 miles] of range on paper and about 120 kilometers [75 miles] in the real world, the Golf VIII e-Golf will have 300 kilometers [186 miles] of real-world range – genuinely 300 kilometers.

So using his numbers gives about 206 miles (EPA) range for the new car. And although that link refers to a 2018 eGolf, there was mention recently of accelerating that schedule (presumably to meet the Bolt).

So which is it? 130 miles or 206? I wish I spoke German so I could read the original press releases/transcripts and decide for myself!

 

[Zoomit]

It's my understanding that VW is planning a new e-Golf based on the next gen platform that will do 200+ EPA and be available in 2019.

The new information is that the current e-Golf will get a bigger battery boost for 2017 than previously expected. It was going to be capable of about 107-mi EPA range, now it will be capable of about 130-mi EPA. A battery capable of 200-mi EPA range would not fit in the current platform.