NEW GENERATION ALL ELECTRIC PHAETON LUXURY SEDAN

New Generation All Electric Phaeton Luxury Sedan

Volkswagen has been delaying the inevitable for way too long by fooling around with emission cheating devices in its EA 189 TDI - 2.0L and 3.0L Diesel Engines, and completely missed the window of opportunity enjoyed by its competitors. To the point that the EPA has placed a halt on all VW diesel engines destined for use in 2016 vehicles.  Meanwhile Toyota sales have topped VW sales for the month of November and outsold Volkswagen for 5th straight month. At this rate Toyota is likely to outsell VW for  December and very likely for the entire year of 2015. 

I'm certain this vexes Volkswagen greatly because Volkswagen has been blowing its own horn as the 'Group of the year for 2014' even though  they are no longer considered among the top fifty companies in Germany. In an attempt to regain its status and as a measure to contain the fallout of the Diesel emissions debacle, the newspapers and magazines have been inundated with Volkswagen Service offers flaunting slogans like.

"Volkswagen Service is proud to introduce Volkswagen Economy Packages".

"Nobody knows Volkswagen better than we do and  nobody's better equipped to service it."

"Let the people who built your car, service and repair your car". 

 "Volkswagen only uses Genuine Parts".

"You  get service of the highest international standard - 100% Volkswagen service".

"Your Volkswagen is Serviced by Volkswagen Certified  Technicians, highly trained and relentlessly dedicated".

The million dollar question is, "Is this enough to make a come back" or "Is it a matter of too little too late". The Diesel Gate Scandal  that cost Volkswagen tens of billions of dollars only caused an enormous surge in EV interest. Today EV prices compare very favourably with petrol and diesel equivalents and electric cars are no longer the preserve of the rich minority. They are now available to anybody who wants a reliable, cheap-to-run car because the days of spending $75 per week to fill up your polluting car will soon be over. 

Considering electric cars have no emissions, and their speed, performance and range have vastly improved. EV's carry no road tax levy and its running costs are as little as 4 cents per mile, a quarter of the average cost for petrol / diesel cars. The Toyota Prius is currently sold in more than 90 countries and its global cumulative sales have passed the  5.2 million units mark  in July 2015. This figure represents 65.4% of the 8 million hybrids sold worldwide by Toyota Motor Company since 1997. Toyota's sales figures for the first three quarters of 2015 stands at 21,210,000,000.00 JPY = 162,256,500.00 EUR or 176,255,100.00 USD.

Volkswagen is on the back foot for not embracing EV's sooner and is scrambling to get their New Generation All Electric Phaeton Luxury Sedan to market by 2017, which is destined to rival both Tesla and Mercedes Benz. The next big question is, "Can VW pull this off sucessfully"?

Initially when Volkswagen's launched their first-generation Phaeton luxury sedan, their objective  was  to prove that they are the world's innovation and engineering leader, and not Mercedes-Benz or Rolls Royce. But the $70,000+ Phaeton was a flop in  North America and was discontinued, yet  it  underpinned the hugely successful Bentley Continental and the Audi A8. From this one can easily see that the Phaeton was probably something very special hence it survived the chopping block,  as all  non essential / unnecessary projects were scrapped because of the ongoing diesel emissions scandal.

A rendered model of what the New Generation all electric Phaeton luxury sedan could look like.

Tesla Signature Series Model X with Tesla's Autopilot autonomous driving system.

VOLKSWAGEN GOES ELECTRIC

VOLKSWAGEN WAS DELAYING THE INEVITABLE

EV's (electric vehicles) has been around as long ago as the mid 1930's, but back then, they were called trolleybuses or  trams. As can be seen in the two images below, these EV's served as mainstream transport for the masses and believe it or not, are still in use in many places in Europe today. The technology though very old, is of long standing and proven, which is essentially a high voltage  electric motor that can deliver high horsepower at high RPM, connected via a gearbox to the drive train. Talking about trains, trains are in fact also EV's but with a slight difference. These EV's of days gone by, both trams and trains are attached to some sort of umbilical from which it received its electrical power to propel whereas modern EV's rely on portable battery power which until now hasn't been very efficient. 

But according to Elton Musk, CEO of  Tesla motor company, this isn't strictly true because they have an entire range of Tesla cars that can do as much as 265 miles (426 km) between battery recharges. He is also of the opinion that the maximum limit of what’s possible with diesel and gasoline has been reached and that the time has come to embrace a new generation of technology.

Trams in Alexandria Eqypt.

Trams in Vienna by Martin Otner

Frankly speaking,  I don't think its about the battery's inefficiencies but rather about the lack of facilities to charge your EV's battery when enroute or at your destination. But in the same breath I need to add that the charging problem is easily surmountable because a solar panel driven charging system (green technology) can easily be sold as an accessory with every EV and can be installed in your home garage. An overnight charge would give the average vehicle user sufficient power to commute virtually all day.

Admittedly, getting high efficiency from a high-voltage motor powered by a lithium-ion battery pack is not easy because there are many factors that effect efficiency, non of which I believe would have been too difficult for Volkswagen to solve. It just kinda seems that Volkswagen was delaying the inevitable even tough they've been flaunting their all-electric, minicar, e-up concept for the past number of years. Yet whilst still grappling  with the global fallout that originated from its diesel emissions scandal, VW recently reaffirmed the brand’s commitment to electrification. Sharing that they are working on a "standardized electric architecture" for all VW vehicles  with motors and flat battery design components that can fit in the various VW vehicle body shapes and vehicle types. 

Adding that VW is  also creating a new business segment called “New Volkswagen” to bundle modern development of digital features for Internet connected vehicles and other related mobility services. This announcement was  based on the  fact the  Silicon Valley firms like Apple Inc. and Alphabet Inc. are planning to make inroads into the automotive segment with software development and battery production. 

Vw even released a photo of its brand new all-electric concept car with an expected  driving range of 155–186 miles, scheduled to debut at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in Jan of 2016. But the main surprise was the news that the next generation Phaeton super-luxury sedan will be an EV—only and not available in nether diesel or gasoline. Its going to have  a pure electric drive with long-distance capability, connectivity, and next-generation assistance systems as well as an emotional design.