Audi Takes Wraps Off Its First Ever Electric Racecar

Audi recently took the wraps off its first ever all-electric racing car, the Audi e-tron FE04. The Audi e-tron FE04 will be piloted by reigning FIA Formula E world champion Lucas di Grassi and his team-mate and Audi factory driver Daniel Abt. The team principle will be Scottish national Allan McNish, who was a former F1 driver and has also, won the 24 Hours of Le Mans three times. The powertrain on the Audi e-tron FE04 is all new and the motor has just one gear. The exact specifications of the e-racecar haven't been revealed fully, yet.

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Peter Mertens, Member of Board of Management, Technical Development, Audi AG, says, "After nearly 40 years of being successfully active in motorsport on the highest level, Audi now becomes the first German automobile manufacturer to compete in Formula E in order to test and advance the development of new technologies for production. Following quattro, TFSI, TDI, hybrid drive and many other innovations, our first single-seater race car is a portent of our product offensive in the field of electric mobility that we are ringing in with the Audi e-tron in 2018."

(The powertrain on the Audi e-tron FE04 is all new and the motor has just one gear)

Audi Motorsport says that it has primarily focussed on the motor generator unit for better efficiency. The racecar will have a high efficiency transmission with only one gear in the 2017/18 season of the FIA Formula E. The racecar will feature new livery too, which will have a combination of white, metallic green and black. Having won the Formula E championship last season, Lucas di Grassi will have number '1' on his car, while team-mate Daniel Abt will have the number '66' on his car. Abt's car will have red markings in order to distinguish it from di Grassi's car.

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Lucas di Grassi along with Daniel Abt, has had a fruitful partnership in Formula E. The driver duo has achieved 24 podiums, six victories and four pole positions in the 33 races that have been held so far in Formula E. The new Audi e-tron FE04 will be making its debut at the fourth season opening race in Hong Kong on 2 December, 2017. The drivers have already started testing the new racecar. The official pre-season Formula E testing will be held at Valencia in Spain in the coming week.