Audi is this year�s overall winner of the second Silvretta Electric Car Rally in Austria�s Montafon region. The 2011 victory of the A1 e-tron follows the R8 e-tron�s win last year. The second Audi in the rally, a
Q5 HFC with a fuel cell finished in sixth place. A total of 32 electric vehicles were evaluated.
After three days, 307 kilometers and a total altitude difference of 11,541 meters, the A1 e-tron bearing the number 206 was named the winner of the second Silvretta Electric Car Rally Montafon. The event took place from July 7-9 as part of the 14th Silvretta Classic. The name Silvretta refers to a group of mountains in the eastern Alps of Austria. The Audi A1 e-tron won against 31 competitors in a rally, that was held on highly taxing mountain roads with inclines up to 15 percent, presenting a special challenge to electric vehicles. The Audi Q5 HFC, which was also entered by Audi, achieved sixth place. This was the best final result of all cars with a fuel cell.
The A1 e-tron contains technology that Audi�s development engineers are using to study the mobility requirements for such a future-oriented concept. The technological basis includes an electric motor with a maximum output of 75 kW that is powered by a lithium-ion battery. The battery features a 12 kWh capacity and can be completely charged in 30 minutes (quick charge), or in less than three hours (standard charge). It offers a range of 50 kilometers. To prevent drivers from being stranded by an empty battery, the A1 e-tron also comes equipped with a combustion engine, which can charge the battery as needed. The one-disc rotary engine (254 cc) is located under the trunk floor; it provides 15 kW of output intended solely to charge the battery, rather than to directly power the wheels.
The A1 e-tron is designed with a local emission-free electric drive system, which is ideally suited for driving in a city.
During the rally the A1 e-tron was driven by Franciscus van Meel, Head of Electromobility Strategy at AUDI AG. Long-time Audi employee Gerhard Gruber took on the important role of co-driver. �Sending an electric car into the Alps is one of the toughest challenges you can present it with. The fact that the A1 e-tron proved so impressive here is especially gratifying to me and it proves we�re on the right track with our electric mobility approach of combining an electric motor with a combustion engine . Many thanks to our dedicated team for making our second overall victory in a row possible,� said van Meel after crossing the finish line.
Van Meel then went on to describe the rally itself: �On the first day we drove cautiously and despite a distance of just over 100 kilometers we finished with a lot of electricity left in the battery. On the second day we were better prepared and we were able to win the day; on day three we came in second, and in the end that was enough to win the overall victory. The car ran flawlessly. We�re now looking forward to the 2012 rally. We already have a few ideas about the kind of concepts we�ll enter with, of course.�
| Audi
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