Audi aims to produce electric car within ten years
By Darren Murph 
posted May 5th 2008 10:53AM
posted May 5th 2008 10:53AM
Although Audi isn't aiming to beat Chevrolet to the punch with an electric whip, it does plan on joining the party a bit further down the road -- according to company bigwig Rupert Stadler, that is. Based on an interview with Germany's Welt am Sonntag, Mr. Stadler noted that he expected diesel and battery technology to dominate within five to ten years, and he made mention that "by then, [Audi] would offer cars without exhaust emissions." Curiously enough, he also stated that "electric cars offer opportunities, which [the company has] already seized on," but alas, he didn't elaborate beyond that. Just to confirm, we've got you, me and a whisper-quiet ride in five- to ten-years? It's a date.[Via News]
Greatest. Post. Ever.
The problem here isn't that they don't have the technology now. As many are saying, and many know....the technology has been around in some form for many years.
I hypothesize the problem to be, people. People who prefer luxury vehicles tend to go for...well, luxury. Not only that but the market here in the U.S tends to prefer bigger, faster vehicles. Bigger and Faster don't go well with being electricity powered, not at the pricepoint most are comfortable with anyway.
Hybrids, and even pure electric cars are a long way from efficient when 1 zillion gadgets have to be powered on the inside and when the car weighs tons due to size and said gadgets. We're coming into an age where cars can almost drive themselves on roads. Many already park themselves unassisted. We're paying the price for 'icing' on our cake.
So Audi may just have it right...whereas people arent willing to sacrifice certain luxuries/conveniences/size/speed/etc. right now, perhaps they will a decade later when hopefully every gas station has some kind of power refill for electric cars and luxury and convenience are home within electric vehicles....by then the electric vehicle will probably 'feel' like todays gas vehicles and people who don't 'care' about the environment per se, will still buy one because 'it looks good', 'performs well' and 'has all the luxuries and features' they want.
I say bring horse and carriage back. Along with bike & carriage. Most cities/suburbs have smooth roads. We can do it. Plus I want to see what's new and luxurious in horse carriages in 2008. Toyota, Honda, Ford horse carriages. Suspension. Air Conditioning. Solar goodies. Modular parts replacement. Yesssir. Frankly I think we've ignored them for too long.
Please bring your own horsie bag for the horse waste.
and/or come by bike.
Horse poop FTW!
Also, don't forget that 5-10 years are really only about two model generations for most manufacturers. That's not terribly much time to develop an essentially completely new technology for market readiness. Coming up with a concept show car is easy, where cheap manufacturability is not a concern.
PS. $2 horse parking all day.
(and please visit my horse dealership. Look at this beauty. Low kilometres. Clean bill of health. Service log...)
The big problem with electric cars will always be "refuelling". Even if you get an electric car with reasonable range and performance no one is going to want to stand for 4-6 hours (or even 1 to 2 hours) on a garage forecourt waiting to "fill up" before you can continue on the next part of your journey. Not everyone lives in the city, you know!
HFC's are the way to go for "clean" cars, but of course (like electricity) you still have to produce the fuel somehow and that somehow will almost always involve carbon fossil fuel.
Jandalf
FUSION power produces waste with considerably lower half life than FISSION power.
You could take the waste from FUSION and dump it in a special area for just a year and it would be completely harmless.
Furthermore, Fusion reactors don't explode or go critical as easily as Fission reactors.
I'm listening...so what's the holdup at this point?
Fusion is decades away from usability, most of it is still theoretical.
Thanks, Bob P. So to return to my original point about doing something now rather than in decades...
and honda aims for mass produced hyrogen cars with proper infra-structure to support it.
How about we ride about on piggybacks on Honda's to-be-confirmed army of Asimos.
If I recall correctly, Audi has been dismissive of hybrids in the past, believing the future lay in diesel.
This is a very interesting development.
Yeah, you're right. Oh, wait:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audi_Hybrid_Vehicles
I guess not, after all.
Diesel / electric has been around for ages in trains. What's the hold up with the cars?
Oh that'll be a treat, an Audi that is nothing but electronics. Might not be in the shop for 6 months out of the year.
10 years? Gas will be $9/gal by then and Honda will be on its 6th generation of electric vehicle. You Audi folks certainly aren't in a hurry.
More likely gas will be $1/gallon.
First of all, fission reactors don't "explode" in any nuclear sense. Chernobyl was a steam explosion.
Second, one cannot compare a fusion reactor to a fission one because, except for that big one in the sky we call the sun, there aren't any production fusion reactors in our solar system. Not a lot of safety data on reactors that don't exist.
Third, going critical is a good thing. Critical means that the reactor has achieved a self-sustaining chain-reaction. What is being touted as a virtue is actually the problem. With fusion, we have only been able to achieve break-even for a few nanoseconds. Not too useful for anything other than research.
Fourth and last, it is unfair to compare fusion products with fission products. The problem with fusion is not the materials produced during the reaction, but neutron activation of the concrete and steel used to house the reaction. Those hang around for a long time, and because neutrons have no charge, no magnetic field in the world will stop them.
An electric car that can charge it's batteries while on the go with a small Bio-Diesel generator is the answer. I don't get why it's so difficult. There must be some heavy duty corruption going on at the top! What else can explain the raping us poor sheeples are taking from the Auto Industry, Oil Industry, Government, you name it. Ten years...how pathetic!
We are indeed still waiting on the technology - specifically large-format (not laptop-size) lithium batteries.
No, Ni-MH is not good enough for a 4-5 passenger series EV - it has a much lower energy density, and is much less efficient (charge/discharge) than lithium-based technologies.
For consumer acceptance, the battery in a series EV like the Volt will have to have a warranty no less than current hybrids - realistically, 8-10 years/80,000-100,000 miles.
Which means a LOT of accelerated testing of battery packs from different manufacturers, both in the lab and on the road, before the final candidate is selected.
They had an electric car... it was called the EV1!
It looks like I might have been thinking of BMW:
http://www.mlive.com/naias/index.ssf/2008/01/bmw_launches_first_hybrid_push_1.html
2009-2010 Analog shutdown.
2011 end of the xp lifecycle.
2012 end of the world.
2018 Audi launch the first (prototype) of their electric car.
Too late Audi. Tesla's doing it NOW. And they just opened a dealership in L.A.
dude. that dude SO wears shoulder pads
Well, don't understand some of the fuss about hybrids.
I drive a peugeot 206, that is three years old and i make an average 50mpg...
Just wanted to state how different are some of the european cars from american ones.
10 years!?!? there is already battery technology out there that is not being used. This is crazy. All electric vehicles that get 250 miles per charge and have solar cells and wind turbines to recharge should be out on the market by now. Im no conspiracy theorist but come on Thanks big oil for paying for the car executives.