At the 2011 Frankfurt Motor Show, Audi showed off the futuristic A2 concept as the third all-electric Audi design study to feature the Vorsprung durch Technik brand. The four-seat A2 concept is futuristic-looking but it appears more familiar than the other two urban concept electric studies that have very radical signs. The A2 is light and its package conserves space with the use of advanced multi-material hybrid construction. Its space-age specification consists of contact-free battery charging, LED matrix lighting technology, ‘by-wire’ steering and braking, and a semi-autonomous running mode.
This concept weighs only 1,150kg. with the use of advanced Audi ultra-lightweight construction techniques. It also marks the first time that hybrid multimaterial construction is used. The Audi Space Frame (ASF) construction principle is used in combining the different materials with one another. The superstructure is built mostly from aluminum and is complemented by add-on parts in Carbon Fibre-Reinforced Polymer (CFRP). The use of these 18-inch alloy wheels reduces the weight by 2kg each compared to conventional equivalents due to cladding technology that greatly reduces the amount of material used. The Audi A2 concept is a purely electric vehicle. It comes with a lithium-ion battery that stores 31 kWh of energy, about 24 kWh of which is usable.
We see that in the front, there is an electric motor transversely mounted in the front. It produces 116PS of peak power (80PS continuous) and 270 Nm of torque (160 Nm continuous) to the front wheels through a single-speed transmission. As result, the car is able to sprint from zero to 62mph in 9.3 seconds and it can reach an electronically limited top speed of 93mph. Audi did this so that it could have a driving range of 124 miles according to the European driving cycle test. Fully recharging the battery takes about 1.5 hours with 400 volt three-phase current. But on 230 volt household current, charging it takes around four hours. In addition, the Audi A2 concept is created for the new contactless charging technology (Audi Wireless Charging).
