Saturday, October 3, 2009

Audi e-tron: An Electric Supercar Concept - Wheels Blog - NYTimes.com

Audi e-tron: An Electric Supercar Concept - Wheels Blog - NYTimes.com: "The German automaker has been one of Europe’s most strident champions of diesel technology and has repeatedly voiced its doubts on battery electric power and hydrogen fuel cell technology. But at the Frankfurt Motor Show on Tuesday, Audi unveiled the e-tron, an electric-car concept.

The e-tron, which looks to be a cross between a TT and an R8, carries four electric motors, one at each wheel (which makes it four-wheel drive, of course) and a horsepower equivalent rating of 313.

The e-tron uses lithium-ion batteries developed with Sanyo, and Audi says the car will be able to travel nearly 150 miles on a charge, even with the air-conditioning — actually, a heat pump — running. Accelerating from zero to 60 miles an hour will take 4.8 seconds.

Audi says the car is very much a concept, although some prototypes are expected to be on the road next year and there will be “a small build” of series production models in 2012."

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