(Tue 15 Sep 09)

The latest in a line of Volkswagen Up! concepts is the E-Up! which has just gone on display at the Frankfurt Show. As the first part of its name suggests, it's an electric vehicle, with a motor capable of producing a maximum of 109bhp and giving the car a 0-62mph time of 11.3 seconds and a top speed of 84mph.

The theoretical range is around 80 miles, and once you've gone that far it takes five hours to recharge the lithium-ion battery pack using a domestic socket, or less than an hour to achieve 80% charge at a proposed public charging station.

Apart from the electric business, the E-Up! is a small car, about ten and a half feet long, with a 3+1 seating arrangement similar to that in the Toyota iQ. Only a very compact person (representing the "+1") can sit behind the driver's seat, but the front passenger seat is mounted 50mm further forward, and Volkswagen says this means that two adults can be accommodated in that half of the car. The rear seats can be folded, increasing luggage space from 85 litres to 320 litres.

The E-Up! is very definitely a precursor to a production car of a similar type, according to Dr Martin Winterkorn, Chairman of the Board of Management of the Volkswagen Group. "Cars with pure petrol and diesel engines - which in the foreseeable future will continue to be unbeatable for mid- to long-range distances - will be supplemented by cars like the E-Up! in coming years," he says. "And that will happen starting in 2013. The concept now being presented in Frankfurt very realistically shows how we envision such a Volkswagen with pure electric drive technology, visually and in terms of size."

Incidentally, if you go around amusing your friends by saying "E-Up!" in a northern accent, don't imagine you're the first. Many others have got there before you.

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