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Audi e-tron – it’s why the future is electrifying

SO WHAT’S it like to drive an electric car? In fact, what’s it like to drive an electric supercar? Road test editor Sam Hardy reports from the wheel of Audi’s futuristic e-tron.
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10 January 2011

Audi e-tron prototype test drive
Audi e-tron prototype – driving the sports car of the future

WHAT kind of car posters did you have as a child?

Growing up in the Eighties, my bedroom wall paid homage to the supercars of the time…the Ferrari Testarossa, Porsche 911 Turbo, Lotus Esprit and the Lamborghini Countach.

But what about today’s teenagers? Is there an electric car for them to dream about? Audi certainly thinks so. At last year’s Frankfurt Motor Show, the firm that brought you the Quattro (another of the cars on my bedroom wall) revealed the e-tron – its take on a future supercar.

Four electric motors, over 300bhp

Essentially a more compact R8 powered by four electric motors and a lithium-ion battery pack the concept might seem pie-in-the-sky, but in fact, it’ll go on sale in 2012.

And just before Christmas I was lucky enough to head to California to drive it.

To be honest I wasn’t expecting much. Concept cars are designed to look great on the show stand, but they’re not meant to be driven at speed on the road. So the e-tron was a big surprise.

The panel gaps in the carbonfibre bodywork are production car tight, the doors close with a reassuring thud and the whole car feels only a few steps away from the showroom!

Switching on the powerplant requires just a flick of a button on the pop-up gear selector…then all you have to do is put your foot down.

Acceleration is lightning fast, and even at motorway speeds it’s accompanied by only a gentle hum from the electric motors. Thanks to 313bhp and instant response, Audi claims 0-60mph in 4.5 seconds and a 40-70mph time of about four seconds, which seems entirely believable.

No engine note, but a futuristic whoosh

But it’s the eerie whooshing and whirring that accompanies this that makes the e-tron feel so futuristic. The firm is currently developing a synthesised ‘engine note’ – quite what that will sound like, I don’t know, but I can’t wait to hear it!

Everything else about the e-tron stacks up too, with accurate steering and stable four-wheel drive handling even if at 1,600kg, it does feel a bit portly.

With a range of 154miles and a re-charge time of two hours (from a 400v supply, likely to be installed free-of-charge for owners), it all looks highly viable although with each of the 1,000 e-tron models going on sale in 2012 costing L120,000, there are a few barriers to purchase.

Remember, though, the e-tron isn’t meant to save the planet. There are still plenty of question marks over electricity as a means of propelling passenger cars – the lack of infrastructure is one, where the electric comes from is another – and the e-tron’s purpose is to boost the image of zero emission vehicles.

Along with its smaller sub TT-sized rear-wheel drive sister car, revealed at the recent Detroit Motor Show (see Audi’s all-electric baby R8), it’s also meant to be a test-bed for future technology that will eventually filter down to bread-and-butter business cars like the A3, A4 and upcoming A1.

In the meantime, I’m sold. Now where did I put the blue tack?

Sam Hardy is deputy motoring editor and digital editor of Auto Express.

Further information

Read Sam Hardy’s Special Report Your next company car – powered by a battery.

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Ralph Morton

Ralph Morton

Ralph Morton is an award-winning journalist and the founder of Business Car Manager (now renamed Business Motoring). Ralph writes extensively about the car and van leasing industry as well as wider fleet and company car issues. A former editor of What Car?, Ralph is a vastly experienced writer and editor and has been writing about the automotive sector for over 35 years.

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