Searching for fossil-fuel alternatives

Future engine and drivetrain programs at Volkswagen are focused on alternative fuels and radical changes to engine combustion, but the battery may yet provide the light at the end of the technology tunnel.

Prof. Jürgen Leohold is a man who lives in the future. As Executive Director of Volkswagen Group research, he needs to have sharp foresight, not just of what fuels and engine technologies will be needed in the next decade, but far into the technology horizon to the middle of the 21st century. What he sees beyond compressed natural gas (CNG), biomass (allied to diesel/gasoline technology convergence), and hydrogen fuel cells are batteries-lots of them.

“Our ultimate aim is to have battery-driven vehicles,” said Leohold. “Up to now, we have not spent large sums of money on such a project because it is so far out and because things have been looked at differently in recent years. But now we are changing our priorities-and that means especially so on electric drivetrains and battery technology.”