Audi is set to launch an all-electric SUV in 2018 with a potential range of more than 500km (310 miles).
Previewed by the Audi e-tron quattro concept due to debut at next month’s Frankfurt motor show, it will be the first large-scale production electric vehicle (EV) to come from the German brand.
Three electric motors – one on the front axle and two on the rear – will be used to provide four-wheel drive, while a large lithium ion battery back will be positioned low between the axles to aid weight distribution.
The R8 e-tron’s charging system has been engineering to accept fast charging at up to 150W
Audi says the car has been designed from the ground up as an EV. The concept features movable aerodynamic elements on the front, the sides and the rear to control the airflow – presumably to balance cooling requirements with drag. It also uses a completely flat underfloor, helping to reduce the coefficient of drag to just 0.25, setting a new record for the SUV segment.
The e-tron SUV’s battery will use cells from South Korean manufacturers LG Chem and Samsung SDI. Both firms are investing heavily in new cell technology and are expected to supply Audi from their European plants.
Structurally, the car will be based on the Volkswagen Audi Group’s second generation MLB platform, which is also expected to underpin the Bentley Bentayga and the next Porsche Cayenne. Using a selection of modular components built from aluminium and ultra-high strength steel, it can be stretched and shaped to fit just about any longitudinally front-engined design.
Size-wise the new car will fit between the Q5 and the Q7. This, allied to the current trend for using even numbers for the more sporting models, suggests the coupe-like SUV will be badged the Q6 e-tron. Audi board member Ulrich Hackenberg said that the aim was to provide “an attractive overall blend of sportiness and range”, and the straight line performance is expected to compare well with internal combustion models.
The all-electric e-tron quattro will follow on from Audi’s existing plug-in hybrid models, including the C-segment A3 Sportback e-tron and the forthcoming Q7 e-tron SUV. Although it will be the first mainstream model from the brand to rely solely on electric power, it won’t be alone. The long-awaited R8 e-tron sports car is due to go into production at the end of this year.
It’s likely the technology used on the Q6 will take its lead from the R8 e-tron, which uses no less than 7,488 individual cells packed into a T-shaped battery weighing around 595kg. It boasts 90.2 kWh and a power density of 152Wh/kg. Perhaps more importantly, the R8 e-tron’s charging system has been engineering to accept fast charging at up to 150kW – theoretically enough to provide 90 miles’ range in just 15 minutes.
The biggest challenge to the Q6 is likely to come externally, however. Californian manufacturer Tesla has stolen the march on its European rivals in the EV market and it’s due to release its own SUV, the Model X, later this year.
Author: Chris Pickering
Some of the numbers must be wrong here:
90.2kWh and 150W charging = 600 hours (25 days) to charge unless I’m having an off day…
Any SUV or equivalent ‘Chelsea Tractor’ claiming green credentials is an oxymoron in action.
Fantastic looking and high performing electric car with a 600 kg battery which can be charged at 150kw to provide 90 miles range in 15 minutes, but with what impact on the local power distribution network?
My full electric Citroen C Zero with a 16kwh battery can be charged at home from a 240 v socket at night in 6 to 8 hours to give 65 plus miles range for around £1. This is no more power thirsty than an electric kettle or an immersion heater so when charging at home has little or no impact on the local power distribution network.
When out and about I can charge to 80% full in around 25 minutes at rapid charging points at most motorway service stations.
Surely, rather than focussing on building very high performance cars able to travel long distances on a single charge, the motor industry should be going flat out researching and developing dynamic charging systems to be installed along all our motorways, autobahns and major trunk roads. This would enable full electric vehicles to charge their (small, more affordable, less demanding of materials) batteries when on the move with sufficient capacity to drive to and from the dynamic charging network to and from their final destination – with their heaters on!
MB – What happens when 1,000,000 electric cars all plug in for the night and the solar farms are not operative and the iron windmills are not turning because ‘no wind today’. Where does the power come from then?
Nuclear of course 😉
JohnK – I would imagine there are not that many people up and about using their ovens, boiling kettles, using instant electric showers or using other high powered electrical appliances at night so demand should be low and power stations idling. So there should not be a problem if you have a million or more electric vehicles with small batteries charging at 10 amps from a 13 amp 240V socket, particularly when smart metering becomes the norm allowing power stored in vehicle batteries to be selectively fed back into the grid for electricity demand management.
Refer to pages 194 to 195 of “Sustainable energy – without the hot air” at http://www.withouthotair.com where Prof David MacKay gives suggestions with back of envelope calculations regarding electricity demand management using electric vehicles and explains why there is a beautiful match between wind power and electric vehicles.
Currently there are some 30 million cars in the UK and close to a billion in the world so switching from petrol and diesel to electric powered vehicles is not a trivial problem, neither is switching from fossil fuels to renewable electric power generation
Roger B – yes, nuclear of course – but as a part of the renewable mix, especially “Generation Four” nuclear reactors for reprocessing our nuclear “waste” stockpile generating enormous amounts of clean electrical power producing much less waste which is far less hazardous, not forgetting electrical power from tidal currents using our world class tidal energy resources and of course concentrated solar thermal power stations in the worlds deserts using heliostat mirrors to capture energy from the sun, that 4.5 billion years old nuclear fusion reactor in the sky, using molten salt (or heat transfer pellets) as the thermal fluid which can be stored and heat exchanged with water to raise steam allowing 24 hrs per day electricity generation with (initially, until superconducting cables are available) HVDC cables with only 3% loss per 1000 kms for export of excess power to distant users. Plus some wind turbines, waste to energy plants, anaerobic waste treatment plants, solar PV panels on thousands of acres of factory, car park and house roofs, mini-hydro electric generators in streams and in rivers and so on …..