Audi's electric strategy unfolds

Is Audi on the road towards switching its faster models to electric power? That's the theme that's emerging as the Volkswagen groups' volume luxury player ponders next steps.

Just as American electric cult brand Tesla begins its assault on Europe, and BMW has raised the bar with the i3 and i8, Audi has started to look as though it was trailing behind.

But with Volkswagen Group boss Martin Winterkorn promising to be the biggest electric carmaker in Europe by 2020, Audi will finally deliver the long-promised all-electric R8 e-tron next year.

Most of the reason for the car’s long and on-again, off-again gestation has been stretching sufficient range out of the lithium-ion batteries. But a large contributor to the saga has also been Audi trying to plan a production program flexible enough to cope with hugely fluctuating electric vehicle demand.

Both of those questions are said by sources to have been answered with the arrival of Audi’s current engineering boss, Professor Ulrich Hackenberg, whose team has eked out of 450km range from the R8 e-tron.

Tesla claims a 500km range out the Model S, which is a larger car capable of carrying more battery capacity than the two-seat Audi sports car.

Sources at Audi and Volkswagen have confirmed that the engineering for electric versions of the next generations of the A7, the A6, the upcoming Q8 sports SUV is already well advanced. The company has set 400km as the minimum range benchmark.

Sources also insisted Audi is waiting to see whether there will be enough demand for high-performance electric cars before it commits to production.