Illuminating the road ahead is a crucial element in driving. It’s also one that has long benefitted from technological innovation. To this end, Audi celebrates the evolution of automotive lighting with its Sport quattro laserlight concept car. The high performance, two-door, Plasma Red coupe harkens back to the iconic 1983 Sport quattro even as it’s abundant advanced technology and design cues point to the future.
The laserlight concept is named for its future lighting technologies. Two low-profile trapezoidal elements are visible within the headlights. An outer one generates low beam light using matrix LEDs and an aperture mask, while an inner element produces laser light for the high-beam.
Laser diodes are significantly smaller than LED diodes, only a few microns in diameter. They can illuminate the road for a distance of nearly 1,640 feet, approximately twice the lighting range with three times the luminosity of LED high beam lights. This technology is finding use in the 2014 R18 e-tron quattro for track duty.
Motivating the laserlight concept is a 4.0-liter, bi-turbo V-8 TSFI (turbo stratified fuel injection) engine and a disc-shaped electric motor located between the engine and transmission. The V-8 produces 560 horsepower and 516 pound-feet torque, with the electric motor contributing an additional 148 horsepower and 295 pound-feet torque. A modified eight-speed Tiptronic transmission is mated to the quattro drivetrain with a sport differential at the rear axle.
Electrical energy is stored in a 14.1 kilowatt-hour lithium-ion battery, sufficient for 31 miles of all-electric driving. When the V-8 and electric motor are working together, the Audi Sport quattro laserlight concept can accelerates from 0 to 62 mph in 3.7 seconds. Top speed is 189 mph. This impressive performance comes with an equally impressive 94 US mpg fuel economy. This is achieved in part through its electric plug-in operation in addition to a cylinder on demand system that deactivates four cylinders of the V-8 under partial load. Also helping is a start-stop system and several levels of regen braking to enhance driving dynamics.
Drivers can switch between three different modes. In EV mode, just the electric motor operates with sufficient high torque power, even outside the city. The active accelerator pedal indicates the transition by a change in pedal resistance so a driver can intentionally influence the mode selection. The Hybrid mode provides optimal interplay between the V-8 and the electric motor for best fuel-savings, and additionally incorporates environmental and route data. A driver can choose the Hold and Charge modes to ensure sufficient electrical energy is available for electric-only driving at their destination. There are different levels of regenerative braking to enhance the driving experience.
The laserlight’s multifunction sport steering wheel has buttons to control the hybrid drive, start-stop function, vehicle handling system, and the car’s virtual cockpit. Key information is shown on the large Audi TFT display in high-resolution 3D graphics. A cutting-edge Nvidia Tegra 30 processor handles the graphics.
Nearly all functions can be controlled from the further-developed MMI mounted on the center console. Its large rotary pushbutton, which also serves as a touchpad, can be pushed in four directions. It’s surrounded on three sides by four buttons that control the main menu, submenus, options, and a back function. The intuitive layout is similar to a smart phone with all frequently used functions accessed lightning fast.
Lightweight design plays a major role in the Audi laserlight concept’s dynamic performance. A combination of ultra high-strength steel sheet and structural elements of cast aluminum is used in the occupant cell. The doors and fenders are made of aluminum, with the roof, engine hood, and rear hatch and other components made of carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP). Thus, the concept weighs 4,079 pounds including the weight of the large battery pack.
The thought of vehicle-integrated solar cells taking an active role in powering an electric car remains a tantalizing prospect. In fact, the use of solar panels on the roof of a vehicle is not a new idea. It’s been shown that ultra-lightweight solar race cars with solar-packed body shells can actually drive exclusively on the power of the sun. In real life, though, this doesn’t work with production cars weighing thousands of pounds that need to carry varying numbers of passengers and weight, provide the acceleration needed for safe motoring, and in general perform all the functions required of a modern car.
Disappointing to some, car-mounted solar panels typically generate just enough electricity to operate a fan to keep the interior of a parked car cool on a hot day, falling fall far short of providing the kind of energy needed for drive motors. Lowering cabin temperatures in a parked EV does serve a purpose since less energy is needed to cool the passenger space during the early part of a drive. That means less of a drain on batteries needed to power an electric vehicle. In this case, every little bit helps.
There are other answers and solar charging does take different forms. Plenty of EV owners offset their car’s use of electricity through large solar panels on their homes. Many public charging stations also make use of solar arrays to provide at least part of the power needed for charging electric vehicles. These have been the most logical examples of solar charging to date. Still, efforts toward creating the true solar car continue.
The latest example comes from Ford. Working in a collaborative project with long-time solar technology partner SunPower and Georgia Institute of Technology, Ford’s C-MAX Solar Energi Concept embraces an innovative approach that could potentially deliver the same amount of electrical power as plugging a C-MAX Energi PHEV into the electrical grid. The goal is no less than creating a logical stepping stone toward making a solar-powered hybrid feasible for daily use.
Ford’s C-MAX Solar Energi Concept benefits from amplifying the sunlight that enables the car’s already-efficient SunPower solar cells to create electricity. A huge jump in solar energy conversion is accomplished with a special solar concentrator lens that directs intense solar rays to the solar panels on the vehicle's roof. The off-vehicle solar concentrator uses a special Fresnel lens of the type originally invented for use in lighthouses, boosting the impact of sunlight by a factor of eight. Similar in concept to a magnifying glass, the patent-pending system tracks the sun as it moves from east to west.
With the aid of the concentrator, the system can collect enough energy from the sun each day to equal a four-hour battery charge for the C-MAX Energi, about 8 kilowatt-hours. Ford says this is sufficient to deliver the same performance as a conventional C-MAX Energi plugged into the electrical grid. The Ford C-MAX Solar Energi Concept would also have the same total range as a conventional C-MAX Energi of up to 620 miles, including up to 21 electric-only miles. Since the sun isn't always shining, there is still a charge port so this solar Energi variant t can be charged conventionally from the grid.
The special solar concentrator carport used with the C-MAX Solar Energi is conceptualized in a way that maximizes capturing solar energy as the sun moves throughout the day. This requires an east-west carport orientation and also the ability for the car to autonomously move forward and backward beneath the canopy during daylight hours, thus enabling its solar cells to make the most of sunlight directed by the concentrator. As Consumer Reports posits, not only does this require buying into the concept of an unattended car moving all by itself during the day, but also the potential liability issues that could come with it.
Ford studies suggest that the sun could power up to 75 percent of all trips made by an average driver in a solar hybrid vehicle. Solar charging could be especially valuable in places where the electric grid is underdeveloped, unreliable, or expensive to use. In addition, use of a C-MAX Solar Energi could reduce yearly CO2 and other greenhouse gas emissions from the average U.S. car owner by as much as four metric tons – the equivalent of what a U.S. home produces in four months. If all light-duty vehicles in the United States were to adopt Ford C-MAX Solar Energi Concept technology, annual greenhouse gas emissions could be reduced by approximately 1 billion metric tons.
Next up: Ford and Georgia Tech will be testing the concept under real-world conditions. The outcome of those tests will help determine if the concept is feasible as a production vehicle.
Batteries remain the electric car’s most pervasive challenge. After decades of research and development plus billions of dollars of investment, an energy-dense and affordable electric car battery remains elusive. Automakers are acutely aware of this as high battery costs can mean significant losses on every unit sold.
Ford is aiming to meet the challenge head-on with a new $8 million battery lab that’s now operating at the University of Michigan. The goal is to develop smaller and lighter batteries that are also less expensive to produce, resulting in more efficient and affordable battery electric vehicles with greater driving range.
The automaker’s existing battery labs focus on testing and validating production-ready batteries. This new effort will address batteries earlier in the development process, serving as a stepping-stone between the research lab and the production environment. The new lab includes a battery manufacturing facility supporting pilot projects, testing, and state-of-the-art manufacturing to make test batteries that replicates the performance of full-scale batteries.
Battery development is in its infancy and this kind of research is critical, says Ford, as is the need for new chemistries to be assessed in small-scale battery cells that can be tested in place of full-scale production batteries, without compromising test results. The automaker points out that in the span of 15 years, the industry has gone from lead-acid to nickel-metal-hydride to lithium-ion batteries, and it’s too early in the battery race to commit to one type of battery chemistry.
Mitsubishi’s recently-unveiled Outlander plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) is a first for this automaker, combining mainstream sport-utility appeal with advanced, plug-in hybrid efficiency. The Outlander PHEV promises drivers the flexibility of an affordable and spacious sport utility that can run in quiet, zero-emission electric mode for commuting, then turn around and handle weekend getaways for five with the cruising range of a conventional SUV. It builds upon the electric drive technology developed for the automaker’s all-electric i-MiEV.
The model’s all-new drivetrain includes a 2.0 liter gasoline engine-generator up front and 80 horsepower electric motors front and rear, with both motors connected to Mitsubishi’s Super All-Wheel Drive Control system. Motors are powered by a 12 kWh lithium-ion battery pack that can be charged in four hours with a conventional 240 volt charging station or just 30 minutes with a quick charger.
What’s most interesting about the Outlander PHEV is how it seamlessly combines smart fuel efficiency and utility. Mitsubishi offers Eco, Normal and Battery Charge driver selectable modes, which focus on maximizing EV time, normal driving, or having the gasoline engine function mainly as a generator to keep the battery charged.
Depending on the state of battery charge, drive mode, and conditions, the integrated management system will automatically choose electric-only, series hybrid, or parallel hybrid mode. In series mode the gasoline engine charges the battery and the vehicle runs on the electric motors, but in parallel mode, like normal hybrids, the gas engine powers the car directly with help from the electric motors. As with other hybrids and EV’s the Outlander generates electricity from both its electric motors during deceleration and regenerative braking.
This new plug-in crossover/SUV offers minimum fuel consumption without sacrificing the four-wheel drive stability or the same dimensions and large 72.6 cubic feet of space that current Outlander owners enjoy (36.2 sq. ft with second row seats up). Gas prices probably aren’t going to be $2.00 any time soon, and customers will always need room to grow. The Outlander PHEV combines real utility with real efficiency. It could be the change that SUVs need.
Based on the Japanese JC08 driving cycle, an electric-only range of 34 miles is estimated with 547 miles achieved on combined gas and electric power. Coming to Japan in early 2013, Outlander PHEV sales will expand to Europe and then the U.S. and elsewhere.