Turns out Audi Urban Concept is not the only weird thing at this year’s IAA, because Volkswagen is bringing this, the NILS concept.
Like the Audi, the NILS is a compact urban commuter powered by electricity and features a bubble cockpit, wing doors and free-standing wheels. Unlike the Audi two it can only carry one person, the driver. VW says it’s like a Formula 1 car with the driver in the middle and the engine at the back! Well, yea, but…
NILS is a very compact car that requires extremely little space in traffic. It is only 3.04 metres long – making it about 50 cm shorter than the new Volkswagen up! – just 0.39 metres wide from wheel to wheel, and a mere 1.2 metres tall. The wheels are of size 17-inch, with 115/80 (front) and 125/80 (rear) tyres optimised for low rolling resistance.
NILS is powered by electric motor with a reasonably small 15 kW nominal power and short-term peak power of 25 kW. A lithium-ion battery supplies the electric motor with energy. The battery capacity (5.3 kWh) enables driving ranges of up to 65 km, depending on the style of driving. Thanks to the lightweight of 460 kg, it has a top speed of 130 km/h, and can accelerate to 100 km/h in less than 11 seconds.
There you go then, the future of urban commuting. Can ya’ll dig it?!
The instrument cluster is a seven-inch TFT display. The vehicle’s speed is shown digitally in the middle, while energy flow is represented by bars. Another graphic display offers information on the driving range. The second central instrument is a mobile multifunctional device like the one used in the new up!: the Portable Infotainment Device (PID). It is snapped into theA-pillar to the right of the instrument cluster. Via touchscreen, the driver controls functions related to Navigation, Radio, Media, Telephone, Trip computer and – to preconfigure the driving range – ‘Eco. The PID computes the expected driving range, then it not only displays the route on the map display, but also the radius and thereby the destinations that can be reached using the current battery charge.
This looks much like the Edison2, winner of the X Prize for ultra-efficient automobiles last year. All they need to do build fairings for the tires. I imagine a kit could be fabricated to advance top speed and range.