Autoblog

Is the Audi R8 E-Tron project back on again?

Michael Harley — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 16:30:00 EST

Filed under: Concept Cars, Coupe, Performance, Audi, Electric

If you ask Audi about its R8 E-Tron prototype, the all-electric two-seater that was first shown at the 2009 Frankfurt Motor Show, the automaker will tell you that its development program is on hold. Yet, as we reported in January, limited production of the combustion-free coupe may be moving forward... information still officially unconfirmed by the automaker.

New images of the electrified R8 undergoing winter testing in Europe have emerged (above and in our gallery), and the car has been spotted running in Spain as well. Both sightings support reports that the E-Tron, with its 150-mile battery range and 8:09 Nürburgring time, may be back in business. Does the program have a green light, or is Audi merely trying to take some of the thunder from the BMW i8?

Whatever the case, if the R8 E-Tron does eventually make it into showrooms - and we are now led to believe it will - expect production volume to be very low. Assuming it doesn't get shelved again, of course.

Is the Audi R8 E-Tron project back on again? originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 11 Apr 2013 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Audi bringing digital rearview mirror from racing to production

Jonathon Ramsey — Thu, 09 Aug 2012 15:45:00 EST

Filed under: Coupe, Performance, Technology, Audi, Electric, Luxury

Audi's digital rearview mirror is officially going from the Le Mans clobbering, race-only Audi R18 to the road-going R8 e-tron (click the image above to enlarge). Lacking a rear window put the R8 e-tron in the same rear-view challenged category as its racing brethren, and so has been provided the same solution.

The 7.7-inch AMOLED screen receives the feed from a tiny camera just a few millimeters across. The screen is dimmable, will automatically reduce the glare from the headlights of cars behind, and can be switched off if the driver just isn't with it. For now, it appears the screen will just display the camera image, but Audi says it's working on adding more information to the display in the future. You can find out more about it in the press release below.

Continue reading Audi bringing digital rearview mirror from racing to production

Audi bringing digital rearview mirror from racing to production originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 09 Aug 2012 15:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Watch Audi's R8 E-Tron quickly and quietly round the 'Ring in 8:09

Scott Burgess — Thu, 09 Aug 2012 12:45:00 EST

Filed under: Motorsports, Coupe, Performance, Videos, Audi, Electric

Silent but deadly fast.

The Audi R8 E-Tron may set the record for a production EV on the Nurbürgring in June, but the video of Marcus Winkelhock won't win any awards for its sound track. During the eight minutes, nine seconds of driving, the car offers hardly any sound.

Gone is the thunder of Audi's V8 or V10 revving through every corner. Instead, it's tire squeals and wind noise. The 375-horsepower electric engines hardly make a sound. But that time is certainly not slow, falling just five seconds short of the R8 with a V8.

Audi promises that this car, which arrives later this year, will be identical to the one that raced on the famed German course. Though, as we pointed out before, it will have its speed limited to 125 mph. It should also have a range of 135 miles.

Scroll down to see the entire lap.

Continue reading Watch Audi's R8 E-Tron quickly and quietly round the 'Ring in 8:09

Watch Audi's R8 E-Tron quickly and quietly round the 'Ring in 8:09 originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 09 Aug 2012 12:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Audi R8 E-Tron laps 'Ring in record-setting 8:09, celebrates silently

Jonathon Ramsey — Fri, 29 Jun 2012 09:16:00 EST

Filed under: Coupe, Performance, Audi, Electric, Luxury

Two months ago, the Audi R8 E-Tron was caught at the Nürburgring, getting its gumption up for what everyone has come to consider The Obligatory Timed Lap of Destiny. The lap has been completed with Markus Winkelhock at the wheel, and the result is a world record for a series production electric car: eight minutes and 9.099 seconds. If you believe in Wikipedia's list of 'Ring lap times, that puts the R8 E-Tron with its 375 horsepower and stupefying torque 25 seconds behind the R8 V10, five seconds adrift of the eight-cylinder R8, and in the same company as the Audi RS4 and previous generation BMW M6.

If we ignore the fact that you can't buy an R8 E-Tron yet, the hot lap car "corresponds in every detail" to the one you will be able to buy at the end of this year. Well, not exactly: customer cars will be speed-limited to 200 kph (125 mph), but for the 'Ring run, the limiter was raised to 250 kph. More practical numbers for civilian jaunts are the 0-to-62 mph time of 4.6 seconds and a 134-mile range when fully charged.

More important to all of us will be the video footage of its triumph, which we hope to see very soon. In the meantime, there's the obligatory press release of destiny below.

Continue reading Audi R8 E-Tron laps 'Ring in record-setting 8:09, celebrates silently

Audi R8 E-Tron laps 'Ring in record-setting 8:09, celebrates silently originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 29 Jun 2012 09:16:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Audi R8 E-Tron test mule does quick but quiet hot laps on Nürburgring

Jeff Sabatini — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 16:45:00 EST

Filed under: Spy Photos, Coupe, Performance, Europe, Audi, Electric

Imagine you're a spy shooter at the Nürburgring. You've got your ancient Ford Scorpio parked nearby, but you've hoofed it up to the top of a hill in the hopes of getting the perfect angle on the track. Three heavy cameras are strung about your body like you're a contestant in The World's Strongest Man competition. It's early and you are tired. And cold. The morning temperature was in the single digits Celsius, and while you're not exactly sure what that translates to in the Fahrenheit scale, this certainly ain't Miami.

Your job is boring. Boy racers driving all manner of would-be performance cars squeal by, inexpertly holding a line that betrays their inexperience. "Go back to your video games, kids," you think as you nurse your cramped and sore legs. You shift your position and the wait resumes. Sport bikes zip by and the wail hurts your ears. You get up and stretch before resuming your regimen. A momentary break in the traffic causes you to do a mental rehearsal, double-checking your gear.

Then you hear it: The tires, disembodied from the roar of an engine, but creating their own telltale sound. You reach for the camera with the longest lens and barely get it up to your eye as the electric sports car whooshes towards you, followed by the loud rumble of something more internally combusted. The camera is now firing on all cylinders as you expertly track the car's pace for the few seconds it's in your field of vision. A Porsche enters the viewfinder and you exhale, lowering the camera and turning your back to the track.

The Audi R8 E-Tron will take just one lap of the Nürburgring that day, but you were there to capture it. It may not surface again before it goes on sale next year, but you don't care about that. You need to hustle back to the car to download the images, so the world can see what an R8 without exhaust pipes looks like, so the fanboys can obsess about the extra cooling vents in the hood for the batteries and the blacked-out rear window.

You will e-mail the photos across the Continent, across the ocean, back home. You'll get a few bucks deposited in your German bank for your trouble, but that won't happen for a while yet. By then you will have taken more photos and sent more e-mails.

And drank countless lagers. It is still early, but you think of the cliche about it being noon somewhere and head off home. Nobody will be in your favorite expat bar at this time, but you think there must be at least one bottle left in your refrigerator.

Audi R8 E-Tron test mule does quick but quiet hot laps on Nürburgring originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 25 Apr 2012 16:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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