DETROIT — We didn’t think it possible, but Audi has made the e-tron electric car even sexier.

The German automaker unveiled the second iteration of its sweet electric concept here at the North American International Auto Show. It is sleeker, simpler and less powerful than the concept first seen at the Frankfurt auto show in September and then at the Los Angeles show last month. But it looks less like a concept designed to wow journalists and more like a production car designed to attract buyers.

That sound you heard was Elon Musk and Henrik Fisker screaming in anguish. The Audi e-tron could unseat the Tesla Roadster and Fisker Karma as the sexiest EV on the road when it appears in 2012.

Version 2.0 is leaner and more aggressive than the first e-tron, which looked a lot like the R8, and draws styling influences from the TT and the S5. The proportions are spot-on: the car is 70 inches wide, 154.72 inches long and 48 inches tall.

Audi has radically simplified the drivetrain, opting to put two motors at the rear axle instead of one at each end. That means the car no longer has all-wheel drive. The motors are liquid cooled and rated at 75 kilowatts (about 102 horsepower) apiece. The first version produced 313 horsepower. Look for a zero to 100 km/hr time of 5.9 seconds, which is about one second slower than v1.0 and two seconds slower than the Roadster. It’ll need another 5.1 seconds to get from 100 km/hr to 120 km/hr.

The car rides on an aluminum and carbon fiber space frame, and most of the body panels are fiber-reinforced plastic. Audi claims the car weighs 2,976 pounds — about 550 pounds less than the first e-tron — and has a weight distribution of 40:60. Torque-vectoring directs power to the rear wheels as necessary for optimal traction. Flaps at the C-pillar open and close as needed to provide cooling air for the motors and battery.

Juice comes from a 45 kilowatt-hour lithium-ion pack mounted in front of the rear axle. The pack weighs 399 kilos (about 880 pounds). Audi claims it’s got a range of 155 miles and says you’ll need 11 hours to recharge it at 220 volts. Plug it into a 440 line and recharge time is cut to two hours.

Of course the car has regenerative braking, but Audi’s developed a novel system. The front brakes are hydraulic fixed-caliper units. But there are two electrically operated floating calipers at each rear wheel activated through a “brake by wire” system. Audi says it eliminates frictional losses due to residual slip and allows for all of the energy generated during braking to be returned to the battery.

The e-tron is not a wild styling exercise or a concept that will be wheeled into Audi’s museum. It is a production-intent vehicle that Audi says will be on the road in 2012.

“We are confident the name e-tron will take its place alongside the names of other great Audi technologies like Quattro and TDI,” said Rupert Stadler, chairman of Audi’s board of management. “Just as people don’t say they have all-wheel drive, they have Quattro, and they don’t say they have a diesel, they have a TDI, people won’t say they have an electric car. They will say they have an e-Tron.”

Elon Musk and Henrik Fisker might have something to say about that.

Audi’s Electric Car Gets Even Hotter

Posted by asusc Wednesday, January 13, 2010 (18:38:25)