Even though electric cars have done a lot towards the green movement and such other similar nature saving motions, it has continued to be a boring experience behind the wheel except for a few specific cases. The Telsa Roadster was one such exception. This in spite of them oozing style and the looks but when it comes to substance, they were found severely lacking. However, the future looks promising and the boredom associated with electric car driving seems to be withering away given the progress seen with the likes of the Audi R8 e-tron coming onto the scene. In fact, the R8 e-tron has forced many to change their opinion of electric vehicles after its impressive demo run at the Le Mans.
And Audi is not one to sit on its successes. For they have set the bar even higher this time for the R8 e-tron. The electric powered Audi is going to participate in three stages of the “Silvretta E-Auto Rally Montafon 2010” event. This drive takes the car on a 104.08 mile track that runs through the Austrian state of Vorarlberg. The persons driving the car would be none other than Audi board member Michael Dick and the Audi racer Lukas Luhr. The car being used for this rally is the erstwhile R8 styled version and is not the most recent version of the e-tron concept.
The car has 313 hp and can do 0 to 62 mph in 4.8 seconds with top speeds of 124 mph. As a car, the R8 e-tron is more biased towards the rear wheel drive with a 30/70 split between front and rear. The prototype car as per Audi presented “extremely neutral” handling. This has been attributed by Audi to the four motor system that adds power and adjusts the same for maintaining intended course without any changes in the speed. It might be mentioned here that the R8 e-tron is a 4 motor all wheel drive car.
Charging the battery pack takes 2.5 hrs from a 400 volt 63 ampere source. There is no confirmation though on the mileage one can get with one single charge.
Source: motorauthority
