Audi e-tron Joins Growing Ranks of Go-Fast Electric Vehicles

Audi joins Mercedes-Benz and Tesla on the growing grandstand for high-performance electric vehicles.

Audi presented the Audi e-tron concept car at the Frankfurt auto show press preview this week, a high-performance sports car styled like the Audi R8 sports car, only with a purely electric drive system.

Like the battery powered version of the Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG that was also on display in Frankfurt, the all-wheel-drive Audi e-tron concept has four electric motors. Rival BMW also showed a high-performance plug-in hybrid.

Audi says the Audi e-tron concept gets 313 hp and goes from zero to 62 mph in 4.1 seconds. Audi claims a range of about 155 miles. Top speed is about 124 mph.

Using household current, a full charge takes six to eight hours, the company said. Using special equipment, a higher-voltage charge takes about two hours, Audi said.