By lapping the Nurburgring in 8:09.099 minutes Audi R8 e-tron sets a new world record for production electric vehicles. The car has not yet entered production, but it will eventually, and you will be able to buy the high performance EV in 2013. This e-tron – driven by racing driver Markus Winkelhock – has the exact same powertrain as the car slated for production.
That means two electric motors that develop an output of 230 kW and 820 Nm of torque. That gives the car a pretty brisk performance. It accelerates from zero to 0 to 100 km/h (62.14 mph) in just 4.6 seconds. Its top speed is normally limited to 200 km/h (124.27 mph); 250 km/h (155.34 mph) was approved for the record-setting lap. The car’s 49 KWh battery pack gives it a range of 215 kilometers (133.59 miles).
So Audi proved that electric cars can be as fast as normal cars. A Nurburgring time of under 9 minutes is not something you can argue with. But we can’t call this a super car, because half of what makes a super car is the noise and fury of it. This e-tron is so quiet and drama-less, it feels kinda boring. A boring car is not a super car.
“Of course, the R8 e-tron is a production car, not a racing car with the assistance of aerodynamics,” Winkelhock emphasized. “But with its low center of gravity and rear biased weight distribution, it brings with it a lot of sporty qualities. The torque with which the electric motors propel the car uphill beats everything that I know – even if they make hardly any noise in the process, which at the start was really a completely new experience for me. In places where I really need traction, the torque vectoring – the displacement of the torque between the powered wheels – really helps me.”
Michael Dick proudly summed up events after the record-setting drive at the Nürburgring. “Within just a few weeks we’ve taken on some big challenges and in the process we’ve shown that we are at the forefront with all of our drive concepts,” he said, adding:”We won the 24-hour race at the Nürburgring in May in the Audi R8 LMS ultra with a ten-cylinder engine.
