Audi Tipped to Put E-TRON Concept Into Production

by Noah Joseph (RSS feed)
Oct 7th 2009 at 6:03AM

If you still think that electric cars have to be small, weird, uncouth modes of transportation for tree-hugging hippies, may we suggest you look to Germany's latest. At the recently-concluded Frankfurt auto show, Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz all took the wraps off exotic supercars that will at some point arrive on the market with electric power.

The BMW Vision EfficientDynamics concept, unveiled in Frankfurt, is tipped to give birth to a new hybrid sportscar from the Bavarian automaker. The new Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG, also unveiled in Frankfurt, is confirmed to breed an electric version. And the Audi e-tron concept, debuted in – you guessed it – Frankfurt – showed the way for what an all-electric version of the company's popular R8 sportscar could look like.

Now reports indicate that Audi is preparing to put the e-tron into production, with working prototypes expected to begin testing within the next two years. Packing four electric motors and a lithium-ion battery, the electric R8 produces a modest 313 horsepower but an absolutely bonkers 3,319 lb-ft of torque, firmly leaving those little electric city cars in its clean wake.

Gallery: Audi e-tron concept