2016 Audi R18 celebrates world premiere in Munich

The new Audi R18 made its world premiere on the occasion of the Audi Sport Finale at the Audi Training Center Munich on Saturday. Audi Sport has fundamentally re-designed the Audi R18 for the 2016 season.

The LMP1 race car that will compete in the Le Mans 24 Hours and in the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) in 2016 features innovative aerodynamics; represents the next stage in lightweight design; and has a modified hybrid system with lithium-ion batteries for energy storage, plus an efficiency-optimized TDI engine. The 2015 R18 e-tron quattro racer featured an encapsulated WHP flywheel energy storage system that sat in the cockpit alongside the driver.

The 2016 R18 retains the 4.0L TDI engine. The 2016 R18 will race in the 6MJ class; the 2015 R18 raced in the 4MJ class, up from 2MJ the season before.

Further technical details will come later.

In the 2016 FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) that will start at Silverstone (Great Britain) on April 17, Audi Sport Team Joest will be fielding two new Audi R18 cars. In the interest of cost efficiency, Audi and its Volkswagen Group sister brand Porsche, have both agreed to each compete in the Le Mans 24 Hours, the WEC season’s pinnacle event, with only two instead of the most recent three cars.

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Tesla Model S P85D 0-100km/h & motor sound [VIDEO]

No other car currently on the market is able to capture the curiosity of the greater public like the Tesla Model S P85D. It is a means of transport like no other, breaking a few world records in the process.

2015 Tesla Model S P85D

Dual electric motors

193kW + 375kW and 967Nm

Single-speed, all-wheel drive

0-100km/h in 3.4 seconds (as tested)

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Bombardier’s Battery Powered Tram Sets Range Record

Bombardier Transportation has successfully completed a 41.6 km catenary-free test run using a Bombardier-built tram, powered entirely by its PRIMOVE battery in combination with BOMBARDIER MITRAC. The test run was conducted in the German city of Mannheim on the Rhein-Neckar-Verkehr GmbH (RNV) network.

RNV began using SuperCaps energy storage systems in 2009, and has integrated this technology into 30 of their trams. This provided sufficient energy for short CFO distances. However, the latest generation of Bombardier’s PRIMOVE battery system has been specifically developed for use with CFO where greater distances need to be covered.

In addition to application in Germany, the PRIMOVE battery and MITRAC propulsion equipment combination has been in successful revenue service on the Hexi line in Nanjing, China since August 2014. Six trams, built by CRRC Puzhen under Bombardier license, operate without overhead cables on 90 per cent of the lines. The batteries are charged seamlessly during passenger service via the pantograph, statically at tram stops, and dynamically during acceleration. On this demanding route, the CFO propulsion system has proven its suitability for almost any tram line worldwide.

The innovative PRIMOVE battery system builds upon Bombardier’s many years of experience with energy storage systems. The system combines high power capacity and exceptional battery life with high reliability and has been designed to maximize performance using the latest developments in nickel manganese cobalt (NMC) Li-Ion cells. The advanced PRIMOVE thermal conditioning unit maintains the battery’s ideal temperature and enables rapid charging and full braking energy recovery while extending their lifetime to up to ten years.

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BMW Reveal eRR Electric Super Bike Concept

BMW Motorrad has a long tradition in pointing out new ways and thoughts for the topic „mobility on two wheels“. For that, again and again many studies were presented in the past giving views to the future. The experimental vehicle eRR, created as a project with the Technical University of Munich, embodies an idea of an electric powered supersport motorcycle made by BMW Motorrad.

Already a couple of years ago, BMW i showed the BMW Group’s visionary and sustainable approach with the vehicles BMW i3 and i8 and their revolutionary design principles (aluminum chassis and passenger cabin made from carbon fibre) and BMW Motorrad’s C evolution proved, that zero emission, riding fun and practicability do not exclude themselves.

With presenting the experimental vehicle eRR BMW Motorrad goes one step forward and shows the possibilities of an all-electric drive in a supersport motorcycle. Regarding design and chassis technology the eRR leans on the supersport motorcycle S 1000 RR, however using an all-electric drive.

Stephan Schaller, Head of BMW Motorrad, emphasizes: „Since their market launch, the RR is giving the creeps to motorsport athletes. If acceleration, handling or topspeed – the RR is setting standards. However, if acceleration on the first metres, up to 50, 60 kph, is the point, the RR’s 199 bhp have to admit defeat by another BMW product: the C evolution with its electric drive.

We asked ourselves: What happens when combining a sport motorcycle and an electric drive? The experimental vehicle eRR brings the topic zero emission and electric drive on a new, more fascinating level."

BMW Motorrad will announce technical details of the eRR at a later date.

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Samsung SDI to invest $1 Billion in EV Battery Gigafactory

In order to acquire the dominance and leadership in Chinese EV market, Samsung SDI became the first global battery manufacturer to construct an EV battery plant and initiate mass production in China, beating LG Chem who broke ground on a similar plant in China a year ago.

The Xi’an plant has initiated its operation from September. It has finalized battery supply agreements with 10 local personal and commercial vehicle companies and is already delivering the goods. Some of these companies include Yutong, the leader of China’s and also the world’s bus industry and then Foton, the leader of China’s truck industry.

The finalized Samsung SDI Xi’an Plant is a cutting-edge production line that can manufacture high-performance electric vehicle (in standard of pure EVs) batteries for an amount of approximately 40 thousand cars a year. The plant is capable of carrying out the whole production process of EV battery cells and modules. Preparing for increased market demand in the future, Samsung SDI will invest – by adding production line, etc. – 600 million USD into the Xi’an battery plant until 2020 and aim to achieve 1 billion USD in sales.

Samsung SDI CEO Cho Nam Seong said in his welcoming address, “Xi’an is a starting point of Silk Road and is also a focal point of China’s One Belt, One Road initiative.” He added, “To go hand in hand with China’s time-honored tradition and future development strategy, we will bring up Xi’an plant to become the world center of EV battery industry.”

Anqing Ring New Group Chairman Pan Yi Xin said, “By integrating our expertise in the automotive business with Samsung SDI’s advanced technical capability, we will promote Xi’an Plant as the number one production base of EV battery.”

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