If Audi shook the Detroit Motor Show with its baby electric sportscar in January, it has absolutely rocked Paris today with a long-range, plug-in hybrid, convertible version of its e-tron.
The e-tron Spyder is not just a pointer to Audi’s new design language, but it sits on a fully-engineered, modular, mid-engined chassis and debuts the latest generation of Audi’s V6 turbodiesel family and thanks to a part electric powertrain has very low emissions.
While the original e-tron family was fully electric, this one uses a 221kW twin-turbo common-rail diesel to drive the rear wheels and two 32kW electric motors to drive the front wheels. The result is a very fast convertible indeed, with Audi claiming the e-tron Spyder will hit 100km/h in just 4.4 seconds. The car is so fast that it has been limited to 250km/h.
But all that speed comes at very low environmental cost, because the e-tron Spyder’s 9.1kW/h battery pack is large enough to allow it to be driven 50km on the electric motors alone – provided you stay under 60km/h.
Weighing 1450kg – around the same as a production Audi TT convertible – the e-tron Spyder’s biggest number isn’t the combined power number from the internal-combustion and electric motors, but their torque. The new twin-turbo 3.0-litre V6 diesel sits longitudinally behind the driver and pumps out a stunning 650Nm of torque — while boasting around 30kW more than the V6 TDI in the just-launched A8. Add the diesel’s torque to the 352Nm generated by the two electric motors and the car has more than 1000Nm of torque on offer – or about the same as Audi’s monstrous 6.0-litre V12 turbodiesel engine.
The other staggering number is fuel economy. Audi claims the e-tron Spyder posts just 2.2L/100km on the combined fuel economy cycle and emits just 59 grams of CO2/km. On its average figures, it will stretch its 50 litre fuel tank across more than 1000km.
While the TDI engine drives the rear wheels through a seven-speed double-clutch gearbox, the two asynchronous electric motors provide more than straight-line speed when the car is driven hard. Instead, Audi uses the electrics for torque vectoring. It combines their performance potential with high-speed computers to either brake or accelerate each front wheel individually to give the e-tron Spyder maximum grip and traction in any situation.
Audi has emphasized the e-tron Spyder’s handling, insisting that at least 75 per cent of its drive goes to the rear axle for sportier cornering than many Audi drivers may be accustomed to. Weight distribution is 50:50, the company says.
While it looks faithful to the e-tron concept, the Spyder is actually 13cm (5.12 inches) longer than the e-tron coupe and 3cm wider. Stretching the car to 4.06 metres long and 1.81 metres wide – and keeping its height pegged at 1.11 metres – has allowed Audi to use it to hint at what the next generation of Audi sports cars will look like.
The new car is built on an aluminium space frame, with double wishbone suspension at the front end and a forged aluminium trapezoidal link rear suspension. The steering is electro-mechanical, so that it uses no fuel when it’s not turning. The car rolls on custom-made 20-inch tyres.
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