R8 e-tron Will Definitely, Absolutely, Truly Not Go On Sale: Audi
For what seems like the eighth time, Audi has confirmed that its R8 e-tron pure-electric supercar will not be put into production. Speculation that the fast EV would go into production has been on-again, off-again since it was first unveiled to the
For what seems like the eighth time, Audi has confirmed that its R8 e-tron pure-electric supercar will not be put into production.
Speculation that the fast EV would go into production has been on-again, off-again since it was first unveiled to the public at the Frankfurt Motor Show in 2009.
In October last year, production was postponed at the eleventh hour, raising doubts as to whether the car would ever be sold to the public.
Audi is blaming the high cost of the e-tron's 530 battery cells for its decision to cancel production. The German carmaker initially believed that battery costs for the R8 e-tron would have fallen to a reasonable level by now.
The cars limited range was also an issue, believed to be only 212Km between charges.
A pre-production model of the R8 e-tron set a lap record of 8:09.099 for a pure-electric production model at the Nürburgring – a record with less validity now that the car is unlikely to be produced.
But the project is not entirely a lost cause, with technical advances such as brake-by-wire rear braking expected to appear in the next R8 model.
Still, even if the R8 e-tron never hits showrooms, buyers won't be completely robbed of electric supercar options: there's still the AU$517,000 SLS AMG Electric Drive on the horizon.