One of the truisms of consumer technology is that it usually starts out in the industrial or military sectors, and stays there until it’s small and cheap enough for normal people to buy. Or, at least, until the market demands that it be made small or cheap enough to buy. That’s been true of internal combustion engines, computers, GPS and whole drive systems — drive systems like those used in one of the oldest forms of motorized transportation on Earth.
Diesel-electric hybrid systems have been known performers in locomotives for almost a century now. Apart from the fact that diesels are more efficient than gas engines to begin with, they make much better generator engines. Gas engines are usually most efficient at or near wide-open throttle. Diesels are just the opposite, consuming fuel most efficiently while idling. Locomotive engineers figured out a long time ago that coupling a diesel generator to an electric powertrain was the cheapest way to burn hydrocarbons; and yours truly has been waiting on this for years. Finally, predictably, it was Audi (my favorite major car company) that brought to market a "solution" painfully obvious even in Ferdinand Porsche’s time. Or, if not then, at least when Audi itself used a diesel-electric car to win LeMans several times.
Yes, the "e-tron" Q7 is upon us — finally .
Continue reading to learn more about Audi’s future electric car.
Audi Prepares Electric SUV With +300-Mile Range originally appeared on topspeed.com on Wednesday, 11 March 2015 13:00 EST.
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