Frankfurt 2009: Audi E-Tron Electric R8 is For Real

After plenty of rumors, denials and leaked images that looked like a photoshop hack job, Audi has officially taken the wraps off the E-Tron Concept, an electric R8… of sorts.

And if you still find it all hard to believe, it might take some convincing to accept that the car’s power output numbers are for real. The car makes a modest 313hp and a ridiculous 3,319 ft-lbs of torque. That’s no typo.

With all that power you would think this electric exotic could muster up a better 0-62 mph time than 4.8 seconds. The car’s total weight is 3527 lbs, although over 1,000 lbs of that is the battery pack situated behind the passenger compartment but ahead of the rear axle.

Like a true Audi, the E-tron is a quattro car with individual electric motors at each wheel, powered by a lithium-ion battery pack. Audi says that this allows the E-Tron an incredible amount of cornering ability, as power can be distributed to each wheel individually.

As for the car’s design, it looks very much like a real-world photoshop job, as though it was created from a solid piece of metal. The headlights differ from conventional units in that they use LED lighting that illuminates the entire field of vision (as opposed to having high beams and standard beams). When the car detects an oncoming vehicle, the angle of light in that car’s way is simply shut off.

As for that front grille, it features air intakes than open when necessary to cool the electric motors. The same goes for flaps in front of the rear wheels.

A final piece of innovation on the E-Tron is what Audi calls car-to-x communication that allows the car to communicate with traffic lights or to know if traffic is slowing ahead or if an emergency stop of maneuver is needed.