The Leaf, Nissan’s big jump into the pure electric vehicle world (a la Tesla, Fisker et al) will not only becoming to America, but also looks to be headed south of the border as well. OK. Not all of Mexico, but at least Mexico City, which is smart move in a whole bunch of ways.
There was a farce comedy movie back in the 60s called “The Great Race”. It starred Jack Lemmon, Tony Curtis, Natalie Wood, Peter Falk, Keenan Wynn, just about anybody who was farcical comedies back then. It was a fake movie, more or less based on real events, the actual 1908 New York-to-Paris race, and Tony Curtis’ ride, “The Leslie Special”, was a loose interpretation of the 1907 Thomas Flyer that won the real race.
That move, and the real race, is what popped into my mind when I read that an eco-bent Swiss teacher was planning on staging a round-the-world race for EVs.
So, Audi rolled out the pretty damn impressive e-Tron at Frankfurt this year. They had been rumored to be working on some sort of EV for a while, but nobody expected them to show what is, essentially, an electric powered version of their impressive R8 supercar. On e the one hand, though, Audi had to do something. The gauntlet had been thrown down by German rival Mercedes with their electric version of the upcoming re-done Gullwing. So it follows that Audi had to respond. Just in time to get used to the shock of the e-Tron, comes the second stunning announcement that Audi is actually going to build and sell the thing.
Here’s something that has been a long time coming, even if it is only a prototype/design study from a German Technical college. Rolled out at this year’s Frankfurt Auto Show, the E-Wolf e1 is an all electric formula style racer that is completely electric. To say that this is something that should have been done decades back would be an understatement. And to say that we’ll all benefit if something like this takes off is an understatement as well. The old saw is that ‘racing improves the breed’, and if we want to have enjoyable EVs that are fun to drive, then we should all be pulling for the E-Wolf to be made by the score, raced all over the world every weekend, and for that technology to make it into our future cars.
So much electric cars being over glorified go-karts. There were rumors flying all over the place before this years Frankfurt show that Audi was up to something. Audi had a micro-site up about ‘the future being electric’ and the Euro press kept saying stuff about an electric R8. Turns out it was all true, and Audi rolled out what was essentially a modified R8, and one that boasted highly impressive performance numbers.
Just how impressive? How about 3,319 lb-ft of torque for starters?
Audi just released a mysterious microsite and two funny videos dedicated to an Electricity Untamed theme, which hints at an all-new, electric sports car from the German brand. The website ElectricityUntamed.com scrolls through quite a few facts about electricity, and has a countdown timer in the upper-left, which will end during the Frankfurt Motor Show on September 15, 2009, indicating the new car will be unveiled then.
The dot-sketch you see above resembles a modified Audi R8 in more than a few ways, but that doesn’t mean it’s based off of the supercar. The car unveiled will most certainly be a sports car, and will definitely be impressive.
Check out the videos after the jump: Continue Reading…
