Volkswagen reveals the designed a unique single-seat urban electric sports car it calls NILS.

The Volkswagen NILS green-car Concept was developed by the Volkswagen Group Research department and will provide technologies that could become mainstream in future models of the Volkswagen Group brands.

Low-speed acceleration notwithstanding, you won’t want to enter it into any impromptu street races, because its 0-60 time is a leisurely 11 seconds, with its top speed a rather tame 80 mph.

NILS is an Formula One inspired single-seat green-car concept with an aluminum space frame, gull-wing doors and thanks to its extreme light weight (460 kg), small frontal area, it offers sports car performance at speeds up to 130 km/h from a small 25kW electric motor.

The electric motor's 130 Nm of torque offers rapid acceleration and range is limited to just 65 kilometers (40 miles), it recharges from empty in just two hours from a conventional 230-volt electrical outlet.


R&D chief Ulrich Hackenberg said: 'Nils is anything but a dry-run exercise. It is very realistic. Despite its compact dimensions, the concept fulfils all safety requirements for contemporary vehicles.' [via Gizmag]