2006 Audi R-Zero Concept

Combining sportiness with a respect for the environment, the Audi R-Zéro illustrates that extreme performance and reason are not contradictory. If anyone thinks that an electric car is deprived of elegance and dynamism, Audi R-Zéro is a battery-driven vehicle that can fulfill dreams and arouse desires.

As oil prices continue to increase and the Protocol of Kyoto enters application, the bio-energies face serious limitations. Our energy future does not depend only on crude oil reserves. In the face of climatic change and its ecological and human cost, the consumption of hydrocarbons cannot continue at the current pace. It is necessary to decrease and diversify our consumption. Transport is the principal source of air pollution and oil consumption to a total value of 50%.

The initial purpose for the elaboration of this concept was to create a machine with demonic sensations by avoiding the immoderation and the inconveniences that we know of the current supercars, mainly in term of pollution. A concept with the image of a muscular sports car, the Audi TT, and with performance equivalent to that of the Bugatti Veyron, the whole works in harmony with our environment and must join the perspective of 2010.

Aside from the production of the batteries themselves, this car is respectful of the environment mainly due to its electric motorization. The system of electric motorization transmits the fabulous power and reactivity of the engine.  It is in harmony with the ecological challenge and meets the needs of the present without compromising the capacity to satisfy the needs of the future generations.

The R-Zero is an exceptional supercar benefiting from an outstanding architecture. The electric motorization allows an original hierarchical organization of the streams of air in order to to control the behavior of the airflow around and inside the car. The structure of the aerodynamic flow optimizes cooling of the motor and the brakes, as well as generating steady aerodynamic support, all of which is synonymous for performance.

The "Back single frame" is not a free aesthetic subtlety nor deprived of functionality … An airstream connecting the 2 single frames (back and front) is present inside in the car : This structural column thus traverses the total length of the machine. Technique drove the design and the technical constraints were not subject to stylistic demands that, aside from the "Back single frame", we have created a product which forms part of the lineage of explosive motor vehicles. And in the end, we have an electric motor car which does not look like an electric car.

This concept represents a future prospect coming from students of the International School of Design, ISD France.

Design & conceptualisation : Franck Levivier, transportation designer.
Modeling & rendering : Rémi Marchand & Pierre-Olivier Wagner, digital designers.

For more information on the Audi R-Zero, http://audirzero.free.fr; also check out www.isd-up.com

Additional Details

Batteries
It is necessary to foresee 800 volts. The best batteries for this application are those of the family " Lithium-Ion ". The sizing criterion is the massique power : it is necessary to foresee 450 watts / kg. Thus approximately 1200 kg of batteries. 1200 kg of battery + 4 engines of 85 kg more the car itself, we should be around 2,2 tons.

Torque
Audi R-Zéro :
For 1 electric in-wheel motor, Maximal torque : 183 Nm or 135 lb-ft @ 12900 rpm ;
Requiring speed reducer : ¼.
75.0 m/kg de couple par roue 735 Nm/542 lb-ft > 1 wheel
300.0 m/kg pour 4 roues 2940 Nm/2168 lb-ft > 4 wheels!

Bugatti Veyron 127.6 m/kg @ 2200 rpm - 1250 Nm/923 lb-ft
Ferrari Enzo 67.0 m/kg @ 5500 rpm - 657 Nm/485 lb-ft