Audi electric car breaks Nurburgring record

The dawn of the electric supercar is upon us, now that the Audi R8 e-tron has stamped its authority over the most important bragging right in the known universe - record breaking Nurburgring lap times.

With a handful of contenders emerging in the electric supercar market, Audi has jumped the gun several months ahead of official production of its R8 e-tron electric by building a vehicle and setting it loose on the infamous 20.8km Nurburgring, duly breaking the world record lap time for an electric-drive production vehicle.

Driven by Markus Winkelhock, the electric Audi R8 set a 8:09.099 lap time - roughly one minute slower than the outright lap record (7:11.57) set by the Gumpert Apollo Sport - which happens to be powered by a heavily tuned Audi V8 engine outputting 515kW.

The fastest electric car around the Nurburgring is currently the Toyota TMG EV P001, with a 7:47.794 lap, but this 970kg vehicle is a prototype racer, not a production vehicle for the road.

While the Audi R8 e-tron is still not ready for sale, and won't be until the end of the year, Audi is clearly riding high after its R18 e-tron was the first hybrid car to win the Le Mans 24 Hour race, and the company is keen to prove its electric vehicles can last the distance in the most demanding of conditions.

Three fast laps at the 'Ring should do it.

"The R8 e-tron has given a magnificent demonstration of its potential on the toughest race track in the world," stated Michael Dick, Audi's Technical Development Board Member.

"The record-setting drive confirmed that we are on the right track. To us, electric mobility has never been about sacrifice, but rather is about emotion, sportiness and driving pleasure," he said, after completing a fast lap behind the wheel himself - though Audi has not divulged Dick's lap time.

The Audi R8 e-tron is powered by a pair of electric motors that both output 280kW/820Nm and Audi claims that from a standing start the motors can distribute "more than 4900Nm" to the rear wheels.

Acceleration from 0-100km/h is rated at 4.6 seconds and top speed will be limited to 200km/h for production cars, though Dick's Audi R8 e-tron was delimited to hit 250km/h.

To pre-empt any criticisms of the car's lap time not being in 'production' trim, Audi set the car's speed limit back to 200km/h for two fast laps, pegged at 8:30.873 and 8:26.096 minutes respectively.

A rechargeable battery system accounts for a lot of the car's weight, a lithium-ion pack that can store up to 48 kWh of energy. Audi reckons this is enough juice to travel just over 200 kilometres.

Key to the performance, and eventually widespread adoption of electric supercars, will be weight, and the Audi R8 e-tron's 200km+ range can be attributable to its 1780kg mass - relatively trim for an all-electric supercar. The German car maker has made extensive use of aluminium and carbon fibre in the construction of the vehicle, and these construction techniques are likely to trickle down to other vehicles in future.

One of the Audi R8 e-tron's main rivals is likely to be the BMW i8, which isn't quite as rapid to 100km/h, at 4.8 seconds, but will be introduced not long after the Audi R8 e-tron in 2013. Mercedes-Benz is also planning on launching an electric version of its AMG SLS supercar, the e-cell, later this year with sales to begin in 2013.

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