Audi e-tron

Audi unveiled a second compact electric car concept in Detroit that's similar to one unveiled in Frankfurt and Los Angeles a few months ago, which is also called the e-tron. Audi is using the e-tron name as a sub-brand, similar to how it uses "Quattro," that will be applied to a number of different vehicles. The Detroit e-tron is smaller and lighter than the previous e-tron weighing in at just under 3,000 pounds. Two electric motors on this rear-wheel drive vehicle produce a combined 204 hp. With the aluminum body and coupe design, Audi claims it can go 0-62 mph in 5.9 seconds.

The lithium-ion batteries are located behind the passenger compartment and in front of the rear-axle of this two-seater, which helps save energy and allows a possible driving range of 155 miles. Another energy saving feature is the use of a heat pump, which heats up and maintains the interior temperature.

Audi E-tron, an AW Flash Drive

Audi says the production version of the E-tron will hit 125 mph.

The Audi E-tron is a concept supercar with an all-electric drivetrain. Top speed on the production version will be electronically limited to 125 mph, while 0 to 62 mph will come up in just 4.8 seconds, Audi says.

While it looks an awful lot like an R8, and while it also has an aluminum spaceframe just as an R8 does, Audi says the only thing you see on the E-tron that is shared with its internal-combustion sibling is the windshield.

Power goes to all four wheels from a stack of lithium-ion batteries the diameter of soda-pop cans jammed in the space behind the two seats and in front of the two massive rear motors. Two smaller electric motors power the front wheels. Thirty percent of torque goes to the front, 70 percent to the rear. The battery pack makes 42.4 kilowatt-hours of energy, which allows a range of 155 miles.

The Audi E-tron will go into production in late 2011 with a cost that will be more than the R8 V10's current tab of $155,100, Audi says.

Audi e-Tron

Audi e-Tron.

No, no. This car. This car here will be in production by 2012,” Johan de Nysschen, president of Audi of America, told me Thursday, pointing to the brilliant orange e-Tron. “And no, it will not be some watered-down version.”

What they didn’t say: Audi has been such a staunch proponent of diesel as the best fuel economy solution, it is hard to believe it is now moving ahead so quickly with a seemingly competitive technology — electricity — that it once dismissed.

What makes it tick? Four electric motors at each wheel, generating a total of 313 horsepower and a roll-your-eyeballs-back explosion of torque: 3,319 pound-feet, about 10 times that of the gasoline-powered R8 V-8. Zero to 60 m.p.h. takes just 4.8 seconds, the company says, and the top speed is 124 m.p.h. The lithium-ion battery pack is said to deliver a 154-mile driving range.

How much, how soon? Available in very limited numbers by the end of 2012. Any price speculation is purely speculative at this point, but it will be north by northwest of the $150,000 sticker on a loaded R8.

How’s it look? Like an R8 with furnace grates. Mr. de Nysschen says you can expect the production version, which will take shape over two or three years, to become “more emotional.”

All-Electric Audi e-tron Hits PlayStation Home

Some say that PlayStation Home (still in Beta) is a great idea that's been starved of content. Some say that it's merely Second Life without the sex. Audi e-tron apparently thinks that its the place to catch the youth.

Audi's online marketing man, Kai Mensing, points out that, "Most young people gain their first driving experience from video games.

"With the Audi (PlayStation Home) Space, we can bring this target group into contact with our brand in a highly emotion-packed and interactive environment, and demonstrate our ‘Vorsprung durch Technik’ with the virtual Audi e-tron race."

Yup, PlayStation Home (at least in the US) is getting an Audi space where it's all-electric e-tron will be shown off.

Audi e-tron: An Electric Supercar Concept

The New Audi e-tron

Audi is into electric cars after all.

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.