The silent supercar revolution is here! A production prototype of Audi’s e-tron has been spied testing in Germany just weeks before Mercedes-Benz’s AMG division launches its electric SLS.
The two German powerhouses are in a race to dominate the electric supercar world, and snapped testing not far from home in Bavaria, this mule is as notable for what it doesn't have as what it does.
For starters, there are no air intakes anywhere on the e-tron prototype and it has even blanked off the traditional front and side air intakes of the V8 and V10 R8s on which it is based.
First shown at last year’s Frankfurt Motor Show, Audi claimed the production version would have a total of 4500Nm of torque from the instant the driver stepped on the throttle – or about six times what the most powerful petrol-engined cars have on offer now.
It achieves that, plus 313hp of power, by having an in-board electric motor driving each wheel and a liquid-cooled, mid-mounted Lithium-Ion battery pack. While Audi claimed the e-tron would have a typical range of just under 155 miles, the concept car used enough torque to blast from 0-62mph in 4.8 seconds. Although top speed wil be limited to 125mph when it goes on sale next year.
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How much will this cost? £75k plus?
It’s all very well having an electric car that can do 0-62 in 4.8 seconds with a range of 155 miles. Logically where can you do that except on a circuit and how long does it take to top up the battery? I guess the household electricity bill; will more than double unless the house is run on solar energy.
Very nice but its going to cost alot of £££. I do hope that paint job makes it. All the rich girls will love that (and some blokes who drive Mini's!)
As much as I'm a fan of sweet sounding, highly tuned, multi-cylinder internal combuston engines, even I have to admit that this technology has had it's day. It's inefficient, dirty and noisy and what's more the resource to keep it running is dwindling fast.
So what's to be done? The answer to that is very simple: 'As much as we possibly can'. Cars such as this Audi e-Tron are nothing more than sophisticated test beds for what is to come, but be under no illusions, alternative power IS coming. The status quo can't continue if our society is to survive. I don't mean to preach but the situation is this: We are waking up to the fact that the fuel we've relied on for over a hundred years is running out and we've forgotten to buy any 'coffee' to smell.
Where does that leave us? Well, it leaves us in the hands of a car industry with the growing realisation that if it doesn't get off it's butt and start pouring millions into research and development on alternative fuel and power tech, there won't BE a market for it to exploit in the not too distant future. QED...
Yes, fossil fuels will run out, but, I suspect there will some 'twists and turns' yet. Firstly oil production will start to limited, and the laws of supply and demand will mean those fat cat oil companies (which IMO are as bad as tobacco companies for all the environmental damage and loss of life they've caused in the name of profit [I've inside knowledge of this as am related to someone that's been high up in petro-chem for +40 years]) will cream more money and divest it in technologies that increace their longivity. Call my cynical, but I wouldn't mind betting some of those middle eastern sheiks have their eyes on shares in motor giants............or the natural resouces that are required to manuafacture the lithium ion batteries. I want to see new technology, but it needs to be efficient. Kinetic energy recovery systems will need advancement to make the 'switch-over' ecologically worthwhile.
I've no doubt what you say about major oil companies and various middle eastern sheiks is true, or soon will be, but frankly it'll have the same outcome whoever invests in alternative tech. In some ways it'd be preferable because both parties have vast reserves of cash to throw at research and development should they decide to do so, and I'm sure they will because it's in their combined interest. Money talks... =D
Say what you like about fat cat oil companies doing research into alternative fuels, but since the oil crisis of the 1970s they have all become involved in solar energy and we all know what has happened to that industry. Instead of solar energy products becoming readily available at reasonable prices, most, if not all, are now not within reach of becoming affordable alternatives to the general public. Their strategy being that they will not make inroads into their present oil revenues, which, when they are eventually critically affected by resources being depleted, will be a sufficient alternative ... to the oil companies ... as to not make a dent in their present or foreseeable revenues. If the general public will ever see any viable alternatives to the present stranglehold oil companies have on solar products then governments everywhere need to wrest them away so as to make them so affordable once again that they become visible everywhere you look. Until that day, don't even imagine that a 'green' environment will ever see the light of day.
Great! this is really tremendous.The silent super -car revolution is almost with us here with Audi's e-tron spied testing, all-over the world,in Germany and many other countries.And i think that is a sign of many inventions on the way,like this classical ones.I believe this is the product of Germany,and now in fact if Mercedes is not yet out,it is on the way.Bravo to this Ger... co.But also they need to check about the speed and the oil consumption.