Audi Unveils Concept Car for Idiots
Published: September 15th, 2009
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3,319 lb·ft of torque from four electric motors, and the best 0-60 time Audi came up with for its E-Tron concept was 4.8 seconds? Thanks but, uh, we’re not idiots.
More by Edward Niedermeyer
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Anything above ~ 700 lb-ft is pointless as it would just cause wheelspin and rubber burning. Audi's claims are just as meaningless as Tesla Roadster claims of 256 mpg economy.
Again... the reason >700 lb-ft is "pointless" is due to the >9:1 torque multiplication at the wheels with a conventional car. This the total torque in the motors of this Audi vehicle is the equivalent to less than 400 lb-ft on any car we're otherwise familiar with.
@ TR4 .... there is no relationship between torque and 0-60 time. That statement makes no sense. Check here. Assuming the correct gearing and a little simplistically; torque = acceleration, while power = maximum speed.
Well perhaps I should have said "the relationship between peak torque and 0-60 time is very tenuous". The fact that it is not a good predictor of 0-60 time is obvious from Mr. Neidemeyer's original story. Of course torque must be applied to a wheel to make the vehicle accelerate. However once the vehicle is moving one must apply torque at increasingly higher RPM. And the product of torque and RPM is... guess what...power! What most automotive journalists and many others fail to understand is that it is drive wheel torque (not engine torque) that is important. The best acceleration AND the highest top speed will occur when a gear is selected to put the engine at its peak horsepower. The engine will not be producing peak torque but when combined with the gearing the drive wheels will be getting peak torque (AND power).