Audi Kills R8 e-tron Supercar
Audi announced that it will not be selling the electric version of its R8 supercar.
At least not for now. According to a report published by Germany's Auto Bild, the production of the R8 e-tron was halted due to excessive cost, which presumably relates to the batteries. Audi planned to get the first e-trons to customers in late 2012.
Car and Driver previously speculated that the car could be on the chopping block. Audi said that the R8 e-tron was halted for now, but unless the company can get a cheaper battery, it is unlikely that the project will be revived anytime soon.
The car was powered by two electric motors with a total of 381 hp. The car accelerated from 0-60 in about 4 seconds with a top speed that was capped at 120 mph. Audi planned a limited production run of 1,000 cars for an estimated $300,000 each.
Of course, the e-tron is not the only electric supercar on the market and those who can afford such a car don't have to shed any tears. Mercedes will be offering the SLS AMG Electric Drive for about $535,000 (pricing in Germany) and there is also the 2014 Porsche 918 Spyder for $845,000, which can be decked out with options such as a $65,000 paint option.
And if you can spend a little more, you could even look for the 2014 Rimac EV with 1088 hp for about $1 million.
Would you rather spend your $45,000 on a Chevy Volt, or buy an $18,000 car it's based off of and save $27,000 which you could use to buy gas with. Who knows if the Volts will even run in 5 years. Besides it takes burning coal which travels through an electric grid which loses efficiency ever inch until it gets to your house to charge it.
Have you looked into the Tesla Model S? If so why would you chose the Volt over the Model S?
Cant help but Toyota makes a very good product compare to Garbage Machine
I think the Volt is an awesome alternative to the Prius. But It usually costs around 40k (before 10k worth of tax rebates if you are eligible). Direct prices, you can still get a new Prius for ~25k. Hard to make up 15k of fuel savings in the average life span of a vehicle.
Electric motors don't need transmissions, and can therefore accelerate much much more quickly. Those cars, not having complex transmissions and engine blocks that weight a thousand pounds allow those cars to therefore be lighter. Also, the structure of the car can be more aerodynamic, as the paradigm of engine placement and balance of the car is no longer dictated by the transmission, only placement of the wheel motors and the batteries...
The irony is that 'green' supercars are not truly green. Not because of their carbon footprint per se, but because those batteries are made of highly toxic materials that have many toxic ungreen byproducts...
If all I cared about were acceleration, I would go for an electric car 10 times out of 10 before a standard ice car.
Also, supercars are built for best possible speed and acceleration. The principles used are a lot of the same principles that help vehicles save fuel (good aerodynamics, efficient shifting, lighter weight, etc). The reason supercars aren't more fuel efficient is because they are performance driven, i.e. "big and shouty" engines. The problem of taking a supercar to the greener side is that to get the same kind of performance would mean more expense on body design from using more carbon fiber and lightweight metals, and lots of batteries to push the most powerful electric motor you can fit in the car. The weight of the batteries starts negating efficiency, and all of this starts costing a lot. But as we know with SSDs and RAM, it may start expensive, but if you can get it used enough, the cost comes down faster. So make expensive electric supercars, that way the tech involved gets cheaper and we can start buying electric cars that are as beautiful and cheap as many of the gasoline powered cars we buy today.
The 918 is not an EV. It is a hybrid with a V8.
Well, I think the problem is that just because a car is electric, people assume that the intention is to make a green car. This is not always the case. As you pointed out, in this case, the car is electric for the other benefits it offers... not for saving the planet.
It doesn't take anything if you already have solar setup such as myself.
You can argue that it takes energy and such to make those panels, yes yes it does but at the same time those panels will produce clean power for me for the next 20-30 years! That's a hell of a lot of less stuff I am pumping into the air
Using a comparison to a car, The average vehicle in Australia travels 20 000 km per annum, Which is equivalent to 3.3 tons of carbon dioxide discharge annually. A 2kw grid connected system will prevent 3.3 tons of carbon dioxide being generated through coal fired power generation - so it's the equivalent of taking a car off the road each year.
I look forward to affordable EV's, Even range is not an issue for a daily commute for 90% of population.
But no way in hell I will pay AU$60k for either a Chevy Volt or Nissan Leaf, Absolute rip off over here for both of them!
So you never heard of tesla motors? They have a green supercar, and a green luxury car and now a green SUV (for snobs who live near big citys and need a big car to jam the roads)...and are not too expensive!