Audi to trial electric A1 e-tron

Audi announces electric car trials

Audi will trial twenty electric cars in Munich starting in mid 2011. The tests will be a collaboration between Audi, electricity provider E.ON, the Munich municipal utility company Stadtwerke München and the Technical University of Munich. The cars will be the A1 e-tron, first unveiled at the Geneva auto show in 2010.

The A1 e-tron is equipped with a powerful electric motor for zero-emission driving in the city plus a range-extending internal combustion engine. Like the Opel Ampera, it always drives on electric power; its internal combustion engine is only used to recharge the battery once it is depleted.

The Audi A1 e-tron has a range of around 30 miles in electric-only mode, extended to 154 miles by its small, single-rotor Wankel engine. Top speed is 81 mph and fuel consumption 124 mpg; CO2 emissions are only 45 g/km (72.42 g/mile).

Evaluation of mobility behaviour

The Technical University of Munich is responsible for comprehensive data collection and evaluation of mobility behaviour. How heavily and in which situations are the electric cars being used? And what influence does this option have on the use of other means of transportation? To answer these questions, the Department of Vehicle Engineering has developed a mobile application that will be provided on a smartphone to all participants of the fleet trial. The device will track their mobility from their use of bicycles to the electric cars and from conventional cars to buses and trains.

Goal: Germany the lead market for electromobility

The trial is being supported by the German Federal Ministry of Transport as part of a publically-funded project. ‘In the Munich model region, we are providing approximately €10 million in funding for electromobility. This money is a smart investment in the future. Our goal is clear: We want to make Germany the lead market for electromobility and put at least one million electric vehicles on German roads by 2020,’ says Federal Transport Minister Peter Ramsauer.

To support the test fleet, E.ON and Stadtwerke München are building 200 electric charging stations which use ‘green’ electricity produced from renewable sources. By 2025, the aim is to generate enough green electricity to meet the electricity needs of the entire population of Munich – including the requirements of electric vehicles. This would make Munich the first city of over one million inhabitants to achieve this ambitious goal.