It is no surprise, given the minimalist aspirations, that Audi’s two-seat eco-star at the Frankfurt motor show – the “urban concept study” electric vehicle – shows similarities with two other similar concepts also appearing at the show: Opel’s two-seat EV and Volkswagen’s singe-seat NILS.
Both the Volkswagen and the Audi roll on outrigger, F1-type wheels, while the Opel’s frontal body section embraces the wheels, but leaves the two rear wheels exposed to the elements.
The VW has given us base outline specifications of its single-seater, as has Opel with its two-seater, but Audi has kept mum on its effort. Until now.
With the car’s unveiling at the show, Audi has revealed some of the urban concept’s secrets, including a few of the things it is developing to allow users to segue into EV motoring with minimal disruption.
One of these is the development of contactless recharging.
Audi says it is “hard at work” on a charging system that requires nothing more than parking the vehicle over a plate imbedded into a spot marked out on the road and walking away.
The plate contains a 3.6kW primary coil that generates a high-frequency alternating field which crosses to a secondary coil integrated into the car.
The charging process starts and stops automatically, while the alternating field is only generated while the vehicle is parked over the plate. It “poses no danger to humans or animals,” states Audi.
On the day-to-day practical side, the Audi is claimed to offer easy entry and exit to the slightly offset tandem seats via a sliding roof that can be left in closed or open positions. The designers say entering the EV is something like stepping into a bathtub.
Similar to both Opel and VW efforts, the lightweight 480kg Audi measures 3.2 metres long, 1.7 metres wide and stands 1.2 metres tall. It is powered by a 90kg lithium-ion battery mounted transversely behind the seats.
Two electric motors driving the rear wheels generate 15kW and 47Nm and drive through a single-speed transmission. Audi says the battery recharges in around 20 minutes with a 400-volt three-phase system, or in about one hour with a 230-volt household power outlet.
It is said the concept study’s range is around 73km and that it accelerates from zero to 100km/h in 16.9 seconds. Audi says the indicatively slow acceleration is partly offset by the smart step-off typical of an electric car. Top speed is governed to 100km/h.
The car sits on 21-inch wheel shod with tyres measuring 125/60 up front and 145/50 at the rear. Body construction is largely carbon fibre reinforced polymer (CFRP) while the occupant cell is a mix of CFRP and an aluminium structure.
At the back, a small luggage compartment “pulls out like a drawer.”
The F1-style suspension with near-horizontal struts up front is also made from a combination of CFRP and aluminium. Because the car is so light, the rack and pinion steering is unassisted. It has a turning circle of “less than nine metres.”
The Audi gets front and rear crumple zones, two airbags and a pedestrian-friendly system that can avoid collisions.
Audi says the urban concept study has a sibling that wears a spyder-style body with a “flat window strip wrapping around the cockpit, and doors that opens upward at an angle.”
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