Audi will launch its Q7 hybrid next year but it sees the medium-term future as being biofuel powered.
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“We see a lot of potential in second generation biofuels,” said Immanuel Kutschera, Audi’s head of pre-development diesel engine and fuel cells.
Audi will have flexfuel vehicles ready by the end of the decade, he said. “There is still great potential in internal combustion engines; we know a lot about them and we can improve their efficiency even further,” said Kutschera.
The Q7 hybrid was first seen as a concept at the Frankfurt show in 2005. At this year’s show Audi showed a hybrid drivetrain which incorporates the electric motor inside a new eight-speed fully automatic gearbox developed by ZF.
Audi showed its first hybrid 10 years ago and the pace of development has been dictated by the technology of lithium-ion batteries, said Kutschera.
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By GlobalDataThe need to reduce fuel consumption and improve emissions is part of the reason for the move to hybrid.
“But it’s only a step and hybrids are not the only solution,” he said.
Long-term, perhaps a time frame of 20 to 30 years, Audi is backing fuel cells running on hydrogen as the sole power source.
This is in contrast to BMW where hydrogen powering internal combustion engines with a fuel cell for auxiliary power is put forward as the ideal scenario.
But both agree that there has to be a lot of work on the hydrogen infrastructure – especially how to store it safely and efficiently – before either route can be taken.
