Audi announced today that their R8 eTron managed to set a new Nurburgring lap record for electrically powered production vehicles. Driver Markus Winkelhock managed to take the Audi R8 eTron around the 12.92-mile Nordschleife track in 8:09.099 minutes. This is less than a minute slower than the same record for internal combustion engines. The Audi R8 eTron's electric motors output 280 kW (380PS) and 820 Nm of torque. Audi also claims that more than 4,900 Nm (3,614.05 lb-ft) are sent to the R8 eTron's rear wheels, but they still fail thoroughly explain how is this possible. With this powertrain, the R8 eTron is able to get from nought to 62 mph (100 km/h) in 4.6 seconds. The top speed of the production model is limited to 124 mph. However, for the purpose of setting the record, the speed limiter was set to 155 mph (250 km/h).
The Audi R8 eTron has a range of up to 133 miles, thanks to its lithium-ion batteries, which store around 49 KWh of energy. The Audi R8 eTron's price and availability have not been announced, but the Ingolstadt carmaker says it will put it into production late this year.
