Audi is diving headlong into electric vehicles. In addition to the awesome e-tron supercar concept, the Germans are rolling into the Geneva auto show with two more slick concepts and promising to build a line of cars wearing the e-tron badge.
Never fear. Audi isn't going all Tesla Motors on us. You'll still see the gasoline and diesel models rolling out of Ingolstadt. Audi says building the sexy e-tron (pictured), promising a Q5 hybrid and rolling out an A8 hybrid concept alongside an A1 range-extended EV is all about about choice.
“In the future our customers will be able to choose from an increasingly broad range of driveline technologies," says Rupert Stadler, chairman of the board. "To accompany our high-efficiency TDI and FSI engines, we shall offer electric power in the best possible forms for a wide range of mobility needs. The hybrid driveline will be followed by all-electric vehicles.”
All of those cars will bear the e-tron brand.
“Just as 'quattro' has become a synonym for all-wheel drive, so 'e-tron' is to be the Audi brand name for electric mobility,” Stadler said.
Yes, we hear you there in the back row saying etron is French for "turd." Look at that car. The e-tron is anything but an etron.
Audi unveiled the e-tron last year at the Frankfurt auto show and then brought e-tron 2.0 to Detroit in January. Audi plans to produce the car, as a very limited edition model, by the end of 2012. The e-tron will be featured front and center on the Audi stand in Geneva, flanked by an A8 Hybrid concept and an A1 range-extender. Think of it at as German Chevrolet Volt.
The A1 e-tron is only a design study, but it's easy to see how this ride could make it into production largely unaltered. Electricity is the only thing turning the wheels, and the battery -- presumably a lithium-ion unit, but Audi didn't say -- provides a range of 31 miles. When the battery winds down, a single-rotor Wankel engine driving a 15 kilowatt generator keeps the juice flowing. Audi says that gives the A1 e-tron another 124 miles of range while returning 123.8 mpg. The electric motor produces 75 kilowatts (about 102 horsepower) -- plenty for an urban commuter.
“The strength of the electric car clearly lies in the urban mobility area, where the demand for emission-free local transportation will strongly increase," says Michael Dick, a member of Audi's board of management for technical development.
Audi calls the A8 Hybrid "an engineering study," but like its diminutive sibling it sounds production ready as well.
The 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine and electric motor have a combined output of 245 horsepower and 354.03 pound feet of torque, which should provide performance on-par with a big six cylinder engine. It will provide that performance while returning a claimed 37.94 mpg -- quite impressive for a car as big as the A8.
“We regard the full hybrid as we know it today primarily as a very specific technology for reducing fuel consumption," Dick said. "In due course plug-in hybrids will demonstrate their strong points when drivers expect to cover longer distances in the pure electric mode, in combination with a conventional engine."
The A8 is a full hybrid, so it can run on gasoline or electricity. Under pure electric power, the car can hit 65 km/h (40.39 mph) and cover a distance of more than two kilometers (1.2 miles).
Main photo: Chuck Squatriglia / Wired.com. All others: Audi.
Put an electric motor, a battery and a Wankel rotary engine in one of these and you get a range-extended EV that'll go 31 miles on a charge and get almost 124 mpg when the engine kicks on.
Put a hybrid drivetrain in a boat like the A8 and it'll return a claimed 38 mpg. Not bad.
