You have to excuse us for doing a little double-take on Audi’s new Frankfurt-bound Urban Spyder Concept. We actually thought that this was the same concept as the Urban E-Tron Concept that we introduced a few days ago. As it turns out, they’re two completely different models. Who knew, right?
The overall look of the car is completely similar to that of the Urban E-Tron Concept, including stand-out features like the free-standing 21” wheels and the surrounding plates that incorporate those strips of LED lights. However, where the E-Tron has a sliding roof and doors, the Spyder Concept doesn’t have a roof at all and instead features a low, continuous window area with its doors opening upwards diagonally.
As for the interior, well, we don’t see anything different either. Both models carry a 1+1 seating configuration with each of the seats being made from carbon fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP) to provide supreme sturdiness in a lightweight set-up.
Finally, the Urban Spyder Concept also runs on two E-Tron electric motors that provides the power for the car and combined with a lithium-ion battery pack that supplies the energy.
That’s about as much as we’ve been told for now. But rest assured, we’ll share more details as soon as they become available.
The ever continuing dialogue regarding the future of electric cars has drawn a fine line between the believers and the skeptics. But we’ve learned this year not to sleep on EVs just yet, especially when you have cars like this 1981 Camaro and the Volkswagen Beetle Black Current proving that EVs are the real deal.
The latter has already shown that it can blast off a quarter-mile time of 9.51 seconds, an astounding number for a car, let alone an EV. And recently, this 1981 Chevrolet Camaro by Team Haiyin EV Racing called the "Warp Factor II", managed to pull off a similar feat, clocking in a quarter-mile time of 10.08 seconds at the Lebanon Valley Dragway while hitting a top speed of 127 mph.
It’s not as quick as what the Black Current was able to accomplish, but it was impressive nevertheless, which lends to the belief - hollow as it may be for some - that high-powered EV cars like this one have a place in the future of the industry.
Find out more about the 1981 Chevrolet Camaro ’Warp Factor’ after the jump
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While we can feel bad about Bluebird Electric’s failed attempt at setting the land speed record for an electric car, we can at least give due props to another team that set an electric car record of their own this past weekend.
We’re not all too familiar with the "Schluckspecht" EV car, but we’re definitely sure about how EV range has been one of the biggest challenges facing electric cars these days. But if you’re one that can feel at ease about the possibility of having an EV that can travel over 1,000 miles on a single charge, the Schluckspecht EV just might prove that it’s an attainable goal after all.
The whole collaboration came as a result of partnership between Pforzheim University, the University of Offenburg, and the Fraunhofer Institut EMI, the Schluckspecht - apparently, it translates to "heavy drinker" - shattered the previous EV range record, traveling a distance of 1,103 miles (1,631.5 km), which is almost twice as far as what the previous record - 623 miles - was able to accomplish.
The Schluckspecht is powered by 14 lithium-cobalt battery packs and was driven by four drivers in a 36-hour span. The vehicle comes with a lightweight chassis that uses two in-wheel hub motors. It took over 14 years of development before the vehicle finally had its turn in the spotlight. But if you ask anybody associated with the project they’ll tell you that all those years spent building the car was all worth it in the end.
You’ve probably heard about this burgeoning market segment in the auto industry called electric cars. Clearly, a lot of people have strong opinions about the future of these types of cars, including Porsche who has just appointed Audi engineering executive, Joerg Kerner, to head up powertrain development. Kerner has been working on electric powertrains for Audi since 2009, so it would be safe to assume he’ll be doing the same for Porsche. Porsche rival, Ferrari, isn’t so pro-electric. In fact, Ferrari president, Luca di Montezemolo, has a pretty straight-forward opinion on the matter.
He doesn’t believe in them.
Strong words for a man whose company brought out the Ferrari Vettura Laboratorio HY-KERS and is working hard on building a hybrid Ferrari. But apparently for Mr. Luca, there’s still a fine line drawn between hybrid and electric...and he’s not willing to cross that line. Granted, the man is very smart in choosing his words, so his opinions on the matter certainly carry some weight on it, but isn’t it still a little presumptuous to suggest that Ferrari has no future in the electric car segment?
Engadget was able to chat with Montezemolo and he was pretty clear on where he stood on the matter. "You will never see a Ferrari electric because I don’t believe in electric cars," he said. "I don’t think they represent an important step forward for pollution or CO2 or the environment. But, we are working very, very hard on the hybrid Ferrari. This should be the future, and I hope in a couple of years you can see it."
Like we said, Luca di Montezemolo is a very smart man and while we understand where he’s coming from, we certainly wouldn’t unequivocally shoot down the possibility of seeing an electric Ferrari in the future, especially considering how unpredictable the world is right now.
For the past few months, Don Wales and the Bluebird Electric Team have been preparing to break the existing land speed record for an electric car. Ultimately, fate would play other games on the team as the attempt came to a premature end.
With the team primed and ready for the record attempt at the Pendine Sands in Carmarthenshire, Wales, on August 13th and 14th, 2011, Don’s son, Joseph, got the opportunity to enter the record books, continuing a family legacy that went all the way back to the patriarch, Malcolm Campbell. Unfortunately, it wasn’t meant to be as limited visibility within the cockpit of the Bluebird and an alarming slide towards the sea at speeds in excess of 100 mph caused the Bluebird to bounce severely on the uneven surface and hit a soft pothole of sand. The impact caused by the accident severely damaged the vehicle’s bodyshell, steering components, and the bottom wishbone.
“When you can’t see the ground in front of you for 60 meters or 70 meters you’re in trouble before you’ve seen it,” Don Wales said just after the accident.
The only good thing that came out of this doomed attempt was that Joe Wales was able to control the car enough that the damage it incurred was as minimal as it could have been given the circumstances surrounding the entire debacle. Nevertheless, the team is understandably dismayed about the failed record attempt, but they know more than anybody else the extenuating circumstances that can torpedo their record-setting quests. As for the future, the Bluebird Team is optimistic that another attempt is in the oven, although the time frame has yet to be determined.
“We’ll take the car back to Pembroke Docks and see what need to be fixed and see where we go from here," said Wales.
