Audi e-tron Detroit Concept: All New Electric Sports Coupe, Smaller than the TT

Just a few months after the debut of the Audi e-tron at the 2009 Frankfurt Motor Show, Audi unveiled a second full-electric sports car concept at the Detroit show today. Bypassing the silly and confusing 'Detroit showcar Audi e-tron' name, the German firm's new concept model is said to provide a vision of how a small sports car positioned below R8 could look like.

Like the original e-tron, the new two-seater concept is built around Audi's ASF lightweight aluminium space frame and features a carbon fibre reinforced plastic hybrid body that helps keep weight down to 1,350kg or 2,976 lbs.

However, at 3.93 metres (154.7 inches) long, 1.78 meters (70 inches) wide and 1.22 meters (48 inches) tall, the new concept is much more compact in size than the Frankfurt Show e-tron (4.26 meters long, 1.9 meters wide and 1.23 meters tall). It's even shorter than the TT that measures 4.17 meters or 164.5 inches in length.

Whereas the original e-tron was fitted with four-electric motors, two at each axle, the Detroit showcar gets two motors that drive the rear wheels and can operate independently.

Audi says that the twin-motors deliver a combined output of 150 kW or 204 horsepower and peak torque of 2,650Nm or 1954.54 lb-ft accelerating the coupe from 0 to 100 km/h (62mph) in just 5.9 seconds. The e-tron accomplishes the sprint from 60 to 120 km/h (37- 74 mph) in 5.1 seconds.

The concept's top speed is limited to 124mph or 200km/h, as Audi claims that the amount of energy required by the electric motors increases disproportionately to speed.

The baby e-tron's lithium batteries that are mid-mounted and tip the scales at 399kg or 880 lbs, offer a driving range of around 155 miles or 250 km. They can be fully charged through a 230v household outlet in about 11 hours, but Audi says that a heavy current (400 volts, 32 amperes) can cut the time to just about two hours.

Autonomous Audi TTS Takes Driving Out of the Equation [with Video and Photos]

This here is the Autonomous Audi TTS, a research model for a car that does away with the driver altogether in order to explore the best capabilities of current and future driver assistance technologies. The prototype car is the collaborative work of the Volkswagen Group Electronics Research Laboratory (ERL), the Stanford University Dynamics Design Lab (SDDL) and Sun Microsystems.

Nicknamed after Michelle Mouton, one of the most successful female rally drivers ever, the Autonomous TTS is equipped with a fully automated drive-by-wire system that controls the steering, throttle, brakes, gearbox and parking brake as well as a special GPS system to help communicate with the piloting software developed by the researches over at Standford University.

The software package is what enables the vehicle to drive at the limits of handling in various speeds and conditions on a range of surfaces.

While Audi doesn't intend to use the Autonomous TTS to completely substitute the driver (or at least we hope it doesn't...), the company says that the technology found in the car could help dramatically reduce the number of fatalities worldwide by intervening in hazardous situations as well as to take over routine driving tasks such as parking the car in an assigned spot in a garage.

The prototype model is still in the testing phase but if all goes well, Audi is considering a run up at Colorado's famous Pikes Peak to replicate the 12.4-mile Pikes Peak International Hill Climb sometime in the first quarter of 2010.