The Audi A2 electric will not be put into production it has been announced. At first it was in concept form but the company have decided that the vehicle will not go any further than that.
The electric car was first shown in 2011. Many were excited by the project and it certainly had a strong case to be thrown into production.
Its frame was to be made out of aluminium. The stylish concept had huge alloy wheels helping it to stand out. If the car was to go into production, it would have been in the year 2015. Both hybrid and pure electric powertrains were set to be made available too.
Test drives had already taken place on the vehicle, with it driving 125 miles thanks to a 114 BHP electric motor. The battery took four hours to fully recharge before the test took place.
Lessons learnt
However it’s not all bad news. Audi have said that they have learnt a lot from this particular experience. They will take some of the technology and build ideas from the vehicle and use it in future vehicles. The aluminium frame will not feature in future designs however.
Rival to the BMW i3
If the vehicle was launched, it would have been a direct competitor to the BMW i3. The floor has been described as a sandwich floor. The Mercedes A-Class adopts a similar type of concept. This makes room for the lithium ion battery to be stored so that valuable space is not taken over.
Electric vehicles taking a backseat for now
The downgrade of importance towards electric vehicles appears to be quite the norm throughout the car industry at the moment. Vauxhall, who recently released the Adam have now shelved plans to release an electric version of the vehicle. The Nissan Leaf has not performed as expected, with the market still yet to come to terms with electric cars. Only 6,791 Leafs were sold at the end of 2012. Nissan had hoped to sell 9,670 by the end of 2011.
The cost of developing electric car technology has been passed onto the price tag. It was hoped that by now the price of electric vehicle would be substantially lower. Unfortunately they have continued to remain fairly high. The market deems other fuel efficient alternatives as a better option in terms of pricing. That type of attitude has effectively shelved plans for the Audi A2 electric.
