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Audi R8 e-tron Production Model To Be Built
Plans to build a production version of the Audi R8 e-tron, the advanced all-electric R8 sports car was dropped entirely earlier this year. Audi had claimed that the technology just wasn't available to build a high performance production car of the R8's caliber.
Also Read: Audi Dumps Production R8 e-tron Plans
Audi, under it's then R&D cheif Wolfgang Dürheimer, had said the cost of battery was too high to enter mass production and the range offered by the lithium ion battery was just not sufficient. The Audi R8 e-tron concept has a range of 215 km.
Audi, now under a new head, Ulrich Hackenberg, has backtracked on its earlier decision and is said to have decided to go ahead with the production of the R8 e-tron, albeit on a limited scale. The news comes from Drive, which cites company sources.
Sources are said to have informed that this time a new lithium-ion battery technology will be used that will almost double the R8 e-tron's range to 400 km. The new battery technology uses an alternative chemical process, providing greater power density than the earlier 48.6 kWh.
Also Read: World's Most Fuel Efficient Car, VW XL1
Hackenberg, the man heading the engineering and development team of the R8 e-tron is also the man responsible for other electric vehicles belonging to the VW Group, which includes the revolutionary XL1, the new e-Up, e-Golf and Golf Plug-In Hybrid.
The car is expected to enter production during the second half of 2014, which would mean it will be based on the new second generation R8. This would mean the car will be built from a lightweight, aluminium spaceframe chassis which it will share with the Gallardo successor. The body will be constructed out of carbon fiber and composite materials to give the car a final weight of 1780 kg.
The concept R8 e-tron comes with a combined power output of 376 HP from its two motors and a massive torque of 819 Nm. Top speed was limited to 200 km/h, but the car had an impressive acceleration of 0-100 km/h in 4.2 seconds. Audi is expected to continuing using the same hardware even in the production R8 e-tron.
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