Volkswagen came to the 2009 Frankfurt Auto Show with a new small car. E Up! is called “the Beetle of the 21st Century” by the manufacturer although it has a significantly different look from the bug-car.

E Up! is the representative of the upcoming New Small Family from Volkswagen which will consist of three pure electric vehicles: small (e Up!), medium (Up!) and large (Space Up!). They will run on different powertrains designed to accept gas and diesel, combine it with electric batteries or run on pure electricity and finally go all the way to hydrogen cell fuel.

The debuting car has popular now boxy shape and three doors. It seat 3+1 adult passengers although it is even smaller than Fiat 500 by 14 inches (125.6 inches is the total length of the eUp!)!

The electric motor is rather standard: it is a 60-kilowatt electric motor with the front-wheel drive. The car is controlled by a single-speed transmission represented by a rotary knob on the console. The solar panels on the top of the e Up! allow charging the lithium-ion batteries on a sunny day without the help of electric outlet. If the day is not sunny, the car still can be charged from a standard European household circuit in 5 hours. It also takes about an hour to charge the battery to 80% at a municipal recharging station.