PLUG PULLED ON HYBRID DRIVE

IT WAS supposed to be a demonstration of the benefits of plug-in hybrids, only someone neglected to plug them in.

Volkswagen’s new GTE can run for a claimed 50km on electric power alone and Australia’s motoring media was invited to drive the new hybrid from Hamburg to Berlin and on to Frankfurt ahead of the motor show.

But almost the entire journey was completed on petrol power alone after it wasn’t possible to charge the GTE’s battery pack overnight in hotel car parks — even though Germany is one of the countries embracing such technology.

Rather than a triumph of zero-emission driving, the 800km exercise demonstrated that while plug-in hybrids won’t leave you stranded, we are still a long way from being an electric car society.

We got behind the wheel of the GTE showing just 1km of electric-only driving range remaining; within two hours of freeway driving we had built up 4km worth of battery charge, thanks to technology that uses the petrol engine as a generator to build up a modest reserve of power on the run.

Our 4km of charge was sapped the instant we used electric power to get back up to speed after a freeway rest stop, at which point the GTE ostensibly became a Golf with a 1.4-litre petrol engine. And an expensive one at that. The GTE will cost about $50,000 when it goes on sale late next year — the price for being an early adopter. $50,000 (est) 1.4-litre four-cylinder turbo petrol (110kW/250Nm); 75kW electric motor 250kW/350Nm (combined) 1.8L/100km 50km 400km-plus Late 2018

JOSHUA DOWLING