Volkswagen’s natural gas strategy continues to gain ground with the announcement that the Golf Variant TGI now joins the Polo TGI and Golf TGI as being available with a new eco-friendly natural gas engine and extended range using Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) or RNG.
As for the Polo TGI and Golf TGI, the Variant now boasts three natural gas tanks – instead of just two as before – once again increasing the already long range of the CNG drives. And there’s no need to compromise on space either to accommodate the three tanks on-board, as the natural gas tanks are integrated as a space-saving underfloor solution.
At the same time, the additional tank increases the range in natural gas mode by up to 80 kilometres compared to its predecessor. Thanks to the TGI Miller combustion process and the variable turbine geometry (VTG) of the turbocharger, the overhauled, powerful 1.5-litre four-cylinder engine with 96 kW (130 hp) and torque of 200 newton metres delivers significantly increased performance. This engine is primarily powered with CNG – the petrol tank is smaller as a result and thus only serves as a backup.
With the petrol tank reduced in size to 9 litres (for a Golf Variant TGI, that corresponds to a range of approximately 200 kilometres) and now serving merely as a backup, this is referred to as a quasi-monovalent drive concept. In other words, the range with natural gas alone has increased by around 80 kilometres, enabling routes of up to 440 kilometres (based on WLTP) with natural gas alone.
