First look: Seat reveals its first electric prototype

SPANISH brand Seat has revealed its first electrically driven prototype, the Twin Drive Ecomotive Leon, which points to a hybrid vehicle planned for production in 2014.

The Volkswagen Group-owned car-maker so far has steered clear of electric technology, instead exploiting the diesel know-how of its parent company.

But Seat has signaled its intention to help develop plug-in hybrid technology for future environmentally friendly vehicles.

Seat revealed the Leon Twin Drive Ecomotive concept car at its Technical Centre in Matorell, near Barcelona, last week at a ceremony attended by local and federal government representatives.

Borrowing from the Volkswagen Group’s Twin Drive hybrid technology – previewed in the Golf Twin Drive concept last year – Seat plans to launch a series of hybrids using either a petrol or diesel engine linked with an electric motor.

The Twin Drive prototype has been built to help the company develop the electric powertrain, and doesn’t have a regular combustion powerplant.

The electric motor is fed by a group of lithium-ion batteries in the engine-bay, developing 35kW – enough to propel the prototype to the electronically-limited top speed of 100km/h.

Seat says engineers made substantial changes to the transmission, brakes, heating and cooling systems, as well the vehicle’s electronics.

It says the Leon prototype will allow its engineers to research electric drive and look for ways to solve issues including recharge time and limited range. Currently, the range of the prototype vehicle stands at a paltry 50km.

The chairman of Seat’s board of directors, Francisco Garcia Sanz, said the electric prototype represented an important step forward for the brand.

“Halfway through the last century we made a decisive contribution to putting a whole generation on wheels,” he said.

“Today, 50 years on, we also want to be leading players at the beginning of a process of development and industrialisation of this type of car.” Seat might not be at the forefront of electric and hybrid technology, but offers a range of low-emission diesels using a series of fuel saving features.

Seat sells green diesel versions of the Leon and Alhambra under the Ecomotion banner, and is about to introduce the Ibiza Ecomotive diesel which has a combined fuel consumption figure of just 3.7L/100km.