Audi Working On Solid-State Batteries, Hints At All-Electric Hypercar

Audi says that it is researching solid-state batteries and even considering an electric hypercar to rival the likes of the next Tesla Roadster and Rimac C_Two.

During an interview with Motoring at the recent round of Formula E in Berlin, Audi global boss of product and technology communications, Peter Oberndorfer, said that the company has ambitious goals for performance EVs.

“We consider everything at the moment but I personally believe we need a little bit more battery development [for an extreme EV supercar].

“Because if you go very fast you need a lot of battery and don’t want to spend three days going from the Nurburgring to Munich or the other way around,” he said.

One way to avoid such issues would be to ditch current lithium-ion battery tech in favor of solid-state batteries. Oberndorfer said that such batteries are not ready yet, but appeared optimistic about their future use.

“Our development boss Peter Mertens is speaking of solid-state batteries, which are still a few years away, but I think it would be an advantage if it will be developed, so that batteries are getting lighter and need less space.

“There is some progress with lithium-ion but I think the real progress will come maybe with solid-state or something similar,” he said.

Oberndorfer went on to hint that an electric sports car is being worked on, but was careful not to spill the beans: “EVs have a very good balance because the battery is in between the axles, it’s very low. Maybe with a sports car it could be different. I can’t tell you about the… about more future plans.”

In the meantime, Audi’s next-generation portfolio of electric vehicles will launch shortly with the e-tron crossover. Other electric Audi models confirmed for production include a version of the Aicon autonomous concept, an e-tron Sportback and a performance-oriented e-tron GT from Audi Sport.