Audi’s flagship sedan, the A8 has now got a plug-in hybrid variant with prices starting at €109,000 in Germany. At launch, there’ll be the A8 L 60 TFSI e quattro, which is an extended wheelbase variant, followed by the normal wheelbase variant at a later date.
Jumping straight to the business end of the story, a 3.0L TFSI V6 petrol engine is combined with an electric motor. As we can see in the 3D rendering here, it is integrated together with the clutch in the 8-gear tiptronic transmission, which transmits the power to all four wheels via the quattro permanent AWD system.
The combustion engine produces 250 kW (340 hp) and 500 Nm (368.8 lb-ft) of torque, while the electric motor offers a peak output of 100 kW (136 hp) and a peak torque of 350 Nm (258.1 lb-ft). The system output, however, is 330 kW (449 hp) and 700 Nm (516.3 lb-ft) of torque. Audi says that the system torque is available at 1,250 rpm, which is just above idle speed.
When both motors work together in boost mode, the flagship accelerates from 0 to 100 km/h (62.1 mph) in 4.9 seconds and reaches an electronically limited top speed of 250 km/h (155.3 mph), Audi said. The 14.1 kWh battery pack is located underneath the luggage compartment floor and consists of 104 pouch cells which are allocated to 8 modules.
Audi says that the car can drive on electric power up to a speed of 135 km/h (83.9 mph), and its electric cruising range as per WLTP standard is up to 46 km (28.6 mi).
By default, the car starts in EV mode; the combustion engine is engaged only when the driver depresses the accelerator pedal beyond a certain limit. The Hybrid mode offers two sub modes: Auto and Hold. In Auto mode, the predictive operating strategy is activated automatically when route guidance is started in the MMI navigation plus (standard equipment). In Hold mode, the charge state of the battery is kept at the current level to be used later, for driving in urban areas for example.
The car gets the EV soft key between the two MMI displays. The Audi flagship is claimed to recover up to 25 kW of power through coasting recuperation. The electric motor also performs all light and medium brake operations up to 0.3 g, which make up more than 90% of all brake operations in everyday driving. It works together with the hydraulic wheel brakes. Thanks to a sophisticated fine-tuning, the transition, also known as “blending”, between the electric and hydraulic brakes is virtually imperceptible, Audi said.
Standard equipment also includes Audi virtual cockpit, four-zone automatic air conditioning, and 19-inch aerodynamically optimized aluminum wheels.
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