As you know, the Alpine marque was revived in 2017 with a new Alpine A110 sports car—which received generous love from everyone who got behind its wheel. Since 2017, there has been a number of special editions of the A110 itself but no second all-new model yet. And we don’t know when the new car is gonna debut either, but Alpine is showcasing something “new”. Well, kinda new. It’s again a “special edition” of the A110, but this time around, it’s a rolling lab concept, meaning it’s an experimental prototype.
It’s called the A110 E-ternité, and as the name suggests, it’s an all-electric version of the ICE-powered car. And as you might have noticed, the roof has a nice square cut as if created by some aftermarket sunroof installation specialists. But Alpine simply wanted to create “a 100% electric open-top car”. The plan is to make a removable contraption with the roof shells containing recycled carbon. Alpine has built two prototypes with the second one featuring some parts made from flax—a material made of plant fibre—which is claimed to be as strong as carbon fibre.
Inside, except for that large gaping hole on the roof, the A110 E-ternité looks just like any other Alpine A110 out there. However, there’s a larger central touchscreen and different materials as well. There’s also an 8-speaker audio system. But enough about the roof hole and materials and touchscreen cr*p, tell us about the powertrain! Well, I’m glad you asked.
The A110 E-ternité’s rear electric motor offers 178 kW (242 metric hp) peak power and 300 Nm (221 lb-ft) of peak torque, which are less than those of the ICE-powered A110, but remember, the A110 was never about chasing horsepower and torque figures. The motor is coupled with a two-speed DCT.
No gearbox available in-house allowed the Alpine engineers to meet the brief requirements of this A110 E-ternité. The desire was to find a smooth and efficient gearbox without torque breakage, but also light and compact. The double clutch solution makes it possible to avoid a break in torque while remaining compact and light.
The 60 kWh battery pack contains the same modules as those in the Mégane E-Tech. In order to achieve optimum weight distribution, 4 modules have been placed at the front and the remaining 8 modules at the rear. The battery pack alone weighs 392 kg (864.2 lbs), bringing the kerb weight to 1,378 kg (3,038 lbs), but Alpine is targeting 1,320 kg (2,910 lbs). Alpine claims a WLTP range of up to 420 km (261 mi).
As for the official performance figures, a 0-100 km/h (62 mph) sprint time is 4.5 seconds and the top speed is 250 km/h (155 mph).
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