Electrified will mean (mild) hybrid also. Not EV only. But even that is a great step. Hybridization works, and more hybrids is a good thing to lower total fuel consumption.

"very lossy" is a bit of exegaration dont you think. Gears are somewhere between 94-97% efficient. That said, direct drive might be better, but it does require motors with more torque compared to motors with a reduction gear. There is always a trade-off. Personally, i'd like to see in-wheel motors.

forest floor debris is neccessary for healthy soil and the place of many critters dependent on this "debris". Bad move.

I dont get why they made the EV 3 door hatchback. That body design is almost getting extinct in the Netherlands, eventhough it looks better than a 5 door hatcback, practicality will have you choose the 5 door. Almost seems like deliberate to not sell many? I dont like to think those conspiracies are real, but this just seems unwise. If the price is right though, I might consider this as a private lease.

SO basically they copied the Lightyear One prototype? https://lightyear.one/

And animal agriculture is a greater contributor to climate change than all transportation combined (cars, motorcycles, trains, trucks etc.). Big impact with a small change (your diet).

a T8 twin engine with 400 hhp and T6 twin engine with 340 hp is great, but where is the T4 twin engine with a 1.5 - 3 cyl turbo and e-motor with about 200 hp and heaps of torque? And while they're at it, maybe an E8? full electric. Bold move to drop all diesels though.

Why always the complaining about weight? First of, we don't know how much it weighs. Seconds, just look at for instance a Rolls Royce, can you imagine how heavy those wheels/ brakes / tire combos can be in 21 inch. Yet they ride like nothing else. The weight really is not an issue, you just adjust the suspension accordingly.

Using electric vans however does not offset the enormous impact milk production has on the environment (water use, land use, manure problems, CO2 and Methane emissions, etc). Better to stop drinking cows milk, (your not a baby cow are you?), which will have a way bigger impact. Or they could start distributing plantbased "milks". Then it would be a real win.

China also has a population 4.25 times that of the USA, no surprise they sell more electrified vehicles.

Again no mention of animal agriculture being responsible for 18 to 51% of greenhouse gas emissions (methane!). "Drop the meat, stop the heat" -Arnold Schwarzenegger-

Better is to use seaweed to feed people, than to feed cattle. And stop eating animals. www.cowspiracy.com

And to think that animal agriculture is an even greater source of air pollution (methane mainly) than ALL transportation combined, including these ships. You can't be "green" when you eat animals. www.cowspiracy.com

Who has 500 mile days? really. charge at home and you'll have a 200 mile range. with 60 mph avg speed, that means you'll be able to drive for 3 h 20 min. A break would be nice then. More likely, you'll drive for 2 hours and top up the battery, and continue? I'd think the avg. person doesn't do 500 mile days... ever.

there are 750 million people in Europe, if there are 1 million immigrants coming in a year, that is only 0.13%. Certainly we can help the people that have to flee their homes from the terror of AQ and IS. What really needs to stop is this bullsnazzle over oil. But that is why we are here on GCC

The biggest source of man's methane production is that of meat, dairy and egg production. let's start there, because it will have a far greater impact. Go vegan!

Hydrogen sounds very promising, however, when given the choice, I would rather use water for drinking water for those who need it, than to use it to produce a "fuel". Water could become the new oil with high prices. And you can't just tap into river water, that water already has a purpose, to be a river! We need to use less potable water, specifically: meat, dairy, egg industry uses a LOT of water. Go VEGAN!

1,520 kg, 3,351 lb: Light weight??? anything under 1000 kg is ok to be called light weight, but this?

@Bob: "Audi produces the high-voltage battery itself" as stated in the article. Mobile high-tech laboratory is indeed not the way to go, use the tech, NOW.

I think this is awesome! First the delta-wing, which I really hope will return. Now this. Absolutely against the mainstream. GREAT. Needs more hybrid power though. be it electric / flywheel / hydraulic / air whatever. Really looking forward to Le mans this year. Let's see what the other manufacturers come up with.

I don't like where this is going, animals are beeing exploited enough (too much) already. Now we will start breeding animals for "renewable" fuels. INSANITY. "production" of meat, dairy and eggs is more polluting than all transportation together (planes, trains, automobiles, ships etc). And therefore an easy means to reduce climate change. Get informed.

It would have been nice if they also mentioned that the lost crops could have fed 94M people, but in reality most of it would have gone to feed livestock in western countries. I know this site is all about technology, but the simplest way to reduce your carbon footprint: become vegetarian / vegan. The difference between rich and poor is so enormous there, i have no idea how to solve the problem there. I just recently was in India, and noticed that there is a very large percentage of VERY LARGE automobiles. Something i was not expecting. Lots of soot belching busses and tuc-tucs.

I would liek to note thay say the motor weighs 34 kg. That is not to say it ADDS 34 kg of unsprung weight. Normal wheelcarriers, with brakes etc also weigh a bit. Perhaps the weight difference is 20 to 25 kg. Still not little, but certainly not that bad. Look at the best riding / comfortable cars on the road. Think Maybach / S-class / BMW 7 etc. 20 inch wheels, huge brakes. Certainly those have a lot of unsprung weight, and ride is not comrpomised. The motors do sound a bit stronger than needed, however, without a transmission, the torque needs to be pretty high. 54 kW is more than enough, or perhaps still too much. Certainly if you have 2 of them (108 kW / 144 hp continues and 150 kW / 200hp peak) in a Bora would be more than enough. I would happily have my car converted to some inwheel motors. Say 30 kW each. Heck, my car's current weight (Fiat Panda) is 815 kg, zo 25 kW each would be enough. Rip out the enormous 1108 cc engine, throw some batteries in there.

33 mph AVERAGE is ectually faster than i expected. Certainly when it's real world driving, inculding some urban parts. I'm guessing that for motorway driving a maximum of 55 mph (90 km/h) was used, so as to be able to draft behind big trucks etc. So a very good result indeed. Eco driving is not slow driving! You have to accelerate hard to get the engine in the optimal efficiency.

OMG! That is abbismal. 22.7 mpg (us) is 9.65 km/L or 10.36 L/100 km If i compare that with my country (the Netherlands) 39.9 mpg (us) or 16.95 km/L or 5.9 L/100km And that is just for the gasoline cars, Diesel is some 10% better even and we have some 40% or so diesel cars on the road, compared to gasoline. So on average.... Still a very long way to go from the 54,4 mpg for the new Cafe. Best regards, Thanas Stefanes