The first all-electric Audi will be built at the Neckarsulm site, with a
small production run of the R8 e-tron sports cars to hit the roads in late 2012.
quattro GmbH is currently building the first technology platform for the
electric model at the Neckarsulm plant's satellite site in Heilbronn-Biberach.
Specially qualified employees are borrowing from the series production of the
successful Audi R8 mid-engine sports car as they assemble the R8 e-tron at the
development workshop.
The 122nd Annual General Meeting of AUDI AG in
Neckarsulm gave business and product journalists their first opportunity to look
inside the development workshop for the Audi R8 e-tron.
"With the R8 e-tron,
we are showing how inspiring electric mobility can be. Every system in this car
has been tuned for maximum performance and range," says Franciscus van Meel,
Head of Electric Mobility Strategy at AUDI AG. "The R8 e-tron is a very
important project for Audi because the competence and experience we glean from
it will later flow into the large volume production of electric automobiles."
The expectation is that e-tron will become a synonym for advanced electric
mobility, just as the term "quattro" today stands for pioneering all-wheel
drive. "We want to be the leading premium manufacturer of electric vehicles by
2020," says van Meel.
Systematic lightweight construction is one of the
key preconditions for efficiency and range in electric vehicles. The Audi
development engineers are therefore drawing on one of the company's core
competences for the R8 e-tron: The body is aluminum; thanks to Audi Space Frame
technology (ASF), it weighs barely more than 441 lbs (200 kg). The lightweight
body is an important reason why the R8 e-tron weighs in at just 3,527 lbs (1,600
kg).
Employees at the Pre-Production Center in Neckarsulm and quattro
GmbH are currently building the first technology platforms for the electric car.
"The successful production of our Audi R8 high-performance sports car has given
the employees of quattro GmbH a high level of competence in the area of small
production runs and sports car manufacture," explains Managing Director Werner
Frowein.
The aluminum body of the technology platform is being built in
conditions very close to those for volume production in the body shop for the R8
mid-engine sports car. Specific assemblies for the electric model, such as the
center tunnel, are being produced by the Pre-Production Center in Neckarsulm.
The R8 e-tron also goes through the coating process with the volume model. The
technology platform is then sent to the satellite site in Heilbronn-Biberach for
final assembly. "The production process is designed so that we can exploit
synergy effects from R8 volume production," explains Frowein.
For
example, the sophisticated logistics concept that supplies the R8 factory with
parts is also used for the body of the technology platform. Pre-picked
components are delivered to the employees in "shopping baskets." The parts are
installed in the vehicles in a defined sequence in four cycles. "Small-series
production places great demands on our employees," says Frowein. This is why the
development workshop is staffed with experienced employees who worked in R8
series production, where they gleaned key competence in small-series production.
"The development workshop staff are specially qualified for high-voltage
vehicles," explains Andreas Heine, quattro GmbH project manager for the body of
the R8 e-tron. They are trained in three stages - depending on their function
and technical training - to work with the high-voltage technology. The basic
level is sensitization for driving and working on high-voltage vehicles. The
training then builds on this to qualify the workers as electronics experts for
defined activities. Finally, the extended training as Certified Electronics
Specialists for Automotive Technology provides the employees with the expertise
required to perform the complete range of activities associated with
high-voltage models.
AUDI AG is investing more than 5 billion EUR (around
7 billion dollars) in the two German sites at Ingolstadt and Neckarsulm between
2011 and 2015. A majority of this investment will flow into the development of
new products and into future technologies such as electric and hybrid drive
systems.