Audi confirms pure electric city car in the works
Click above for high-res gallery of the Volkswagen up!
Audi has long been rumored to be developing an electric car and many of us concluded that it would be based on the A1 concept that the German automaker recently showed off at the Paris Motor Show. According to Audi board member Peter Schwarzenbauer, the electric car is indeed coming, though it will be based on the Volkswagen up! platform that's destined to carry the Lupo badge when it goes into production. Audi will need to work fast if it's going to catch BMW, its natural rival, which has already begun production of an electric version of the hugely popular MINI Cooper. For the Audi/VW offering, a battery pack will be mounted at the rear of the Lupo's platform, though we still have no indication of what type of battery will be used. What might the new car be named? Not sure, but we do know that A2 is available.
Gallery: VW up!
[Source: Autocar]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
zamafir 10:10AM (10/08/2008)
I wish audi would revive the A2 utilizing the Up! and perhaps their ASF, that'd go a good ways in negating the weight of the batteries.
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OOMPH! 5:13PM (10/08/2008)
ohh man! i agree..A2 was pretty cool!
tom 12:06PM (10/08/2008)
This is great news. Will it still be rear-engine, rear-wheel-drive? If it's all electric I suppose the motor will be so small that it won't matter if it's front or rear engine. But it would be nice to have rear wheel drive on a light, torquey, efficient car.
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ker beahrt 5:50PM (10/08/2008)
KJust what the world needs - yet another impracticl "pure" electtric with a $20,000 battery pack that lasts 5 years. Yawn. Tell me when the public wakes up and deserts this oxymoronic technology.
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Dustin 8:50PM (10/08/2008)
hey look at this, I can pull "facts" out of mid-air too!
"By 2014, all gas-engine cars can be powered by organic enzyme gel that self-reproduces and yields avg. 400 mpg"
Wow that IS fun.. now I know why you yokels always do it!