A large family of I. D. pri volkswagen started in late 2019 with the introduction of a small 100% electric compact car, ID.3. But did you know that long before that, more than 40 years ago, the German manufacturer already debuted with all-electric cars? Here’s a little story about Golf CitySTROMer, The first compact Volkswagen car without a heat engine!

The beginning of electricity in 1972 at Volkswagen

You have to go back a long, long way to see the first beginnings of electric power from a German manufacturer. The start of work on a battery-powered vehicle embodies the project on a CarrierT2. We were then in 1972! I wonder if it is the same year or a specific one Renault 5 was sold…some were 100% electric! But let’s return to the German design bureaus. At the time, this “electric” T2 was powered by lead-acid batteries placed in the floor. This Combi weighed 2.2 tonnes and was produced in just 120 units.

Four years later, the electrification project of The name is golf materialized, but only on a few test cars. We have to wait until 1981 to see Golf I CitySTROMer arrive. With 25 models created in collaboration with GES, the company created by German electricity company RWE, this is the first Golf to actually run properly on batteries. However, with a range of only 60 kilometers, the small city car could not go very far!

VW Golf CityStromer pic.twitter.com/Pmb3oUAx1B

— Jens Nor Bundegaard (@JBundegaard) January 19, 2022

Volkswagen Golf II CitySTROMer (1985)

The second generation CitySTROMer was based on Golf Mark II. It was opened in 1985 and consists of 70 units. A much more sophisticated, electric city car was quite suitable for everyday use, but was not mass-produced. Copies were mainly used in customer service to get new practical information about their day-to-day work.

Golf CitySTROMer vs. ID.3: A Clash of Generations

More than forty years separate our two electric city cars. If at first glance it seems that the two cars are opposites, in fact these two models have a lot in common. If you dwell a little on the characteristics and on-board technologies, you can have fun comparing the two electric models. There is a battery of a different age in the trunk and under the back seat of the old Golf. A lead-acid battery with positive tubular plates. This generates a power of approximately 21 hp. (15 kW). For comparison, the ID.3 lithium-ion battery has a capacity of 58 to 77 kWh in combination with a 150 kW (or 204 hp) motor for the most efficient versions.

The maximum speed of the ID.3 is 160 km/h, and acceleration to 100 km/h is 7.9 seconds. Numbers that make the Golf II CitySTROMer look a little old. Indeed, the latter painfully reaches 70 km/h in 30 seconds and needs more than a minute to reach 100 km/h, its speed limit. The old Golf has a small funny detailfour-liter gasoline tank, necessary for water heating of the cabin in cold weather. Because if we used a battery, we would logically see that its autonomy melts… And one last detail, its small battery can only be connected to a home socket and takes eight to ten hours to reach 100%! We remind you that the ID.3 needs only 29 minutes to charge the batteries at the 135 kW fast terminal…