2023 Author: Eric Donovan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-05-21 15:44
The new Audi A1 celebrates its premiere at the Geneva Motor Show. Although the small mini competitor is not even on the market, the Ingolstadt-based company is already adding the smallest Audi to the visionary electron family.
By Stefan Grundhoff
Audi wants to hammer the brand name e-tron into the minds of customers in a similar way to the four-wheel drive name quattro. What has worked with the company's own 4x4 technology over the past three decades with both well-planned and slow steps, has to go a little faster due to the great pressure of competition and innovation. After the premiere of the first Audi e-tron at the Los Angeles Auto Show in the basic construction of an R8 and the latecomer at the NAIAS 2010 in TT dimensions, an Audi A1 e-tron is now following on Lake Geneva. By the way, there is the return of the rotary engine.
50 kilometers range
While the new 1 Series is celebrating its long-awaited public premiere as a series model at the Geneva Motor Show in 2010, the study of the A1 e-tron shows that electronic interiors should not be reserved for the sports versions at Audi. While the main competitors Mercedes and BMW have already put the first hybrid versions on the road, Audi overslept the hybrid connection. Because series models such as the Q5 or A8 with hybrid technology are still a long way off, image models and technology carriers from the e-tron family should take care of it. The near-series Geneva study of the Audi A8 Hybrid does not change anything.
The Audi A1 e-tron is driven by an electric motor with a maximum output of 75 KW / 102 PS and a maximum torque of 240 Nm. In continuous operation, the power is reduced to 45 KW / 61 PS. The Citymobil should achieve the 0 to 100 km / h sprint in 10.2 seconds; the top speed, however, is an unimpressive 130 km / h. The power transmission takes place with a single-stage gear. The A1 range in pure electric mode: 50 kilometers.
Range extender on board
If the lithium-ion battery positioned in front of the rear axle is empty, the smallest Audi moves with a small combustion engine similar to the Opel Ampera or Chevrolet Volt. The so-called range extender charges the battery while driving and increases the range to a practical level. Surprise: the mini-engine is not a conventional combustion engine or a diesel engine with turbocharging, but a single-disc rotary engine with an output of a manageable 15 kilowatts, which is housed below the trunk. The battery charged in this way increases the range by a further 200 kilometers. The average consumption of the A1 e-tron would be just under two liters of super per 100 kilometers. The tank for the rotary engine holds 12 liters of fuel.
The battery can be recharged in around three hours via a plug-in connection on a 380-volt network. The socket for the standard charging plug is located behind the rings in the single frame of the Audi A1 e-tron. A display shows the current charge status and remaining charge time. The lithium-ion battery is located in the floor pan in front of the rear axle in order to improve the weight distribution and the center of gravity of the 1.2-ton A1 e-tron. The battery unit in the shape of a “T” fills the rear part of the center tunnel and the area in front of the rear axle that otherwise belongs to the fuel tank. The 150 kilogram lithium-ion battery, which works with 380 volts, has an energy content of twelve kilowatt hours.
