SEAT is developing its first fully electric vehicle. Called the SEAT Altea XL Electric Ecomotive, SEAT hopes to put the technology into production in 2015.

SEAT will produce a limited number of the new Altea XL Electric Ecomotive vehicles to lend to government officials for a trial period. The data collected from the tests will assist SEAT in developing the technology for mainstream production.

The SEAT Altea XL Electric Ecomotive is powered by an electric drive system that provides up to 85kW of power and 270Nm of torque. SEAT says the Altea XL Electric can achieve a limited top speed of 135km/h.

One of the unique aspects to the Altea XL Electric Ecomotive is the way in which the batteries are stored. None of the batteries compromise interior space in the Altea, as all of them are contained under the rear seats and the boot. Dr Matthias Rabe, SEAT S.A. executive vice president for research and development, said in a statement,

"SEAT has its electric future assured. With the electric Altea XL we are showing just how mature our technology is. The electric Altea XL was an intentionally studied choice for the first fleet. It will enable us to experiment with a wide variety of uses."

SEAT has also revealed plans to develop a plug-in hybrid model called the Leon TwinDrive Ecomotive. The TwinDrive system offers a full-electric range of around 52km, and a combined petrol and electric mode fuel consumption of just 1.7L/100km. SEAT President James Muir said,

"Customers demand a more sustainable form of mobility, but their needs are diverse. Therefore, we believe that a parallel strategy of developing two different technologies will put SEAT in the best position to meet their needs."

As mentioned, the technologies are set to hit mainstream production in 2015.


Source: Car Advice