Geneva has seen the wraps officially coming off the 2016 Audi R8 in both petrol and e-tron form – the 5.2 litre FSI V10 was detailed last week when it was revealed, and now it’s the turn of the second-gen R8 e-tron.
A quick recap of the 5.2 FSI R8’s numbers. The car will only be available in V10 form, and in two variants – the standard car has 540 hp and 540 Nm on tap and performance figures include a 0-100 km/h time of 3.5 seconds and a 323 km/h top speed.
The 1,555 kg R8 V10 plus ups things to 610 hp and 560 Nm, and the century sprint is brought down to 3.2 seconds, while top speed increases to 330 km/h. Transmission choice is a sole seven-speed S tronic dual-clutch transmission with paddle-shift, shift-by-wire operation, three shift modes and launch control.
Ten standard exterior colours are available for the R8, and 11 for the R8 V10 plus, which adds a special matte Camouflage Green finish to the palette. Customers will be able to pick from five colours for the interior.
As for the R8 e-tron, the second-gen offering improves on the operating range offered by the previous outing, more than doubling the travelling ability of the electric sports car – the new e-tron can travel 450 km compared to the 215 km the previous-gen offered.
The range improvement has been accomplished through a series of modifications to the car as well as an increase in battery capacity to 92 kWh from the 49 kWh previously, as well as a hike in energy density from the 84 Wh/kg in the old car to 154 Wh/kg.
The large T-shaped lithium-ion battery – produced in-house by Audi – is structurally integrated into the centre tunnel and behind the occupant cell, and its size remains unchanged.
Elsewhere, intelligent energy management and an electromechanical brake system enable high energy recuperation rates. A Combined Charging System (CCS), which allows charging with direct and alternating current, allows the battery to be fully charged in less than two hours.
The battery powers two electric motors – each produce 228 hp and 460 Nm, so combined power output is now 456 hp and maximum torque is 920 Nm compared to the first generation’s 375 hp and 820 Nm, and the new R8 e-tron manages the 0-100 km/h run in 3.9 seconds (4.2 seconds on old car), with top speed electronically-restricted to 210 km/h or 250 km/h (200 km/h, old car).
The new R8 e-tron features additional use of carbon-fibre over the standard R8 to lighten things – the vehicle’s supporting structure is enhanced with a CFRP rear-section module comprising the luggage compartment. The automaker adds that the walls of the CFRP luggage compartment well are corrugated to aid in energy dissipation and absorption in the event of a rear-end collision.
The best news of all for potential buyers is that unlike the first-gen, which never made it into series production, the new R8 e-tron will be sold to the public – the car will be available for order later this year.
Audi R8 e-tron at Geneva 2015
Audi R8 5.2 FSI V10 and V10 plus
Audi R8 e-tron
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