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Audi has confirmed plans to launch a small electric city car, likely to be based on the VW Up! concept.

Peter Schwarzenbauer, who sits on the management board at Ingolstadt, told Autocar “We will offer a pure electric car” at last week’s Paris motor show.

Schwarzenbauer was responding to rumours that Mini is planning an electric version of the Cooper for the LA motor show in November.

He went on to reveal that the small electric Audi “will not be based on the A1”, the firm’...Read the full article

Audi should just dust off the A2, and install an electric motor in that. It's already got most of the credentials you need for an electric car .. small footprint lightweight aluminium structure, room for four, compartment space under the floor, and even a sealed bonnet with a service flap which could house the recharging plug socket.

The A2 increasingly looks like a car that was ahead of its time.

Just a thought, but with crude oil likely to fall back to around $50 a barrel by end of year and UK electricity industry taking main generating plant off line to overhaul driving wholesale electricity prices up to 15p kWh, already in autumn, what is the chance of electric cars becoming unviable again in the UK compared to sub 4l/100km i.c.e cars?

Now if it was France with electricity costing currently 3p/kWh okay.

Good point that.  If the price of a barrel should fall as far as it could in a worldwide recession then one of the key justifications for producing alternative vehicles goes for a Burton. Similarly as less oil is used the price falls and demand rises again. I still think that one of the main advantages of the electric vehicle will be the convenience of powering them up.  No petrol stations.  Things like that matter more to most people who, in the final analysis, care more about ease of use than any other issue.

TUK:

Audi should just dust off the A2

exactly, now what do you think Audi are going to call their version of the Up! 

They can't use the A1 badge because they're already using it for a premium' supermini' (what other cars is it targeting anyway?) and the A2 badge has been gathering dust since it was dropped from prodution, so it would make sense to reuse a badge