2009 Audi A4 2.0 T Quattro, Awd, Moonroof, Runs And Drives Excellent, Nice Car!! on 2040-cars

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Audi R8 E-Tron back on production map thanks to new battery tech?

Contrary to our October 2012 report, it appears Audi's R8 E-Tron program is back on track, if a report from Australia is to be believed. Drive is reporting that the German brand has changed its mind and won't be sacking the program, despite previously stated concerns about the quality and price of batteries for the R8-based EV.
We last saw the R8 E-Tron prototype in the snows of northern Europe, although footage of the car has been non-existent since that wintry test. This new report claims that a small number of R8 E-Trons will see production, which gels with what we heard back in 2012 and supposed earlier this year. Apparently, some new sort of lithium-ion battery technology has allowed for a drastic increase in range, with rumors of the original 130 miles going up to around 250. According to Drive, this makes the project feasible again.
"Our engineers and technicians are further developing the car and its electric drive system. The range has grown significantly, allowing the potential for a small-scale production," an unnamed, but high-ranking Audi employee told the Aussies.

2015 Audi A3 E-Tron [w/video]

Over the years, we've had a chance to test a lot of Audi E-Tron vehicles, from very early all-electric prototypes (back then we only got to sit in the passenger seat) to the A6 L E-Tron PHEV and the A1 E-Tron plug-in hybrid. All of them were concepts and promises, merely whispers of what was possible, even as the Nissan Leaf, Chevrolet Volt and two Tesla models were making waves in the marketplace.
As we learned last year in our Deep Dive of the E-Tron project, all of the concepts, prototypes and rumors have finally come to fruition in this A3 Sportback E-Tron. Previously, we were given a chance to drive a prototype, but it was only very briefly. Last week, we finally got to run a production-representative example through the hilly roads between Vienna, Austria and Munich, Germany. After spending a solid day with Audi's first marketable E-Tron vehicle, we can say that it's a most amazing bit of engineering, in particular for the way that Audi has done so much to hide the fact that this is an electrified vehicle. Not entirely, of course, but the idea was to make the A3 Sportback E-Tron a no-compromise PHEV. And that means it drives and feels, in many ways, like the standard A3 Sportback despite over 700 extra pounds. Oh, and there's a charge port hidden behind the four rings in the grille.

24 Hours of Le Mans an on-and-off love affair

There was little usual about this year's 24 Hours of Le Mans - intermittent rain in the weeks before the race meant cars didn't get on track as much as they wanted, and intermittent rain during the race meant cars went off track a lot more than they wanted. The race started with a wet track, and one of the records broken because of the random downpours was the number of times the safety car led the field - 11 times this year - although the record of two hours and 53 minutes of lapping behind the safety car, set in 2011, was not eclipsed.
None of that served to dampen the action. With little more than an hour left in the race there were cars still only a few seconds apart fighting for position, leads still changing because of pit stops and everyone drafting anyone they could.
Things didn't go the usual way up front, either - well, not exactly...