Volkswagen Conducting Golf EV Testing in California, Virginia

Volkswagen of America confirms its all-electric Golf blue-e-motion is undergoing testing at the auto maker’s Electronics Research Lab in Belmont, CA, and remains on track for a late 2013 U.S. market launch.

Carsten Krebs, director-corporate communications, says 500 prototypes of the EV are on their way to global testing centers, with eight models headed to the Silicon Valley facility and 12 more are bound for VW’s North American headquarters in Herndon, VA.

The 5-door, 5-seat small car, nicknamed by the auto maker “The People’s Plug-in,” employs front-wheel drive and features a 1-speed transmission.

An 85-kW (114-hp) electric motor accelerates the car from 0-60 mph (97 km/h) in 11.8 seconds, delivers a maximum 199 lb.-ft. (270 Nm) of torque and provides a top speed of about 87 mph (140 km/h).

The e-Golf’s lithium-ion battery stores 26.5 kW/h of energy and enables the car to run an estimated 93 miles (150 km) on a single charge.

It shares the same charging technology used by Volkswagen’s concept all-electric Beetle, or E-Bugster, unveiled at January’s North American International Auto Show in Detroit.

Wasted energy is reclaimed by the e-Golf’s battery-regeneration system that activates when the accelerator is released and during braking.

Although the markets chosen for the new EV’s initial release in the U.S. are not yet specified, “California is quite an important market,” says Krebs, adding the auto maker is considering markets in other states along the West Coast and East Coast for the car’s rollout.

The e-Golf is set to launch about the same time as the VW Up! mini EV. Also in the pipeline are hybrid versions of the Jetta, due later this year, Golf and Passat.