While there’s likely nowhere on Earth where the above Audi R18 E-Tron Quattro is street legal – except perhaps Antarctica, which isn’t known for its road system – one can dream of getting behind the wheel of this stunning vehicle and opening it up.
That is, until one comes across an older couple in a late-model Buick chugging along in the fast lane at 48 miles an hour.
The Audi R18, the first hybrid race car to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans, is one of the favorites of this year’s race, not surprisingly.
The car possesses an unusual combination: It features a conventionally powered rear axle together with an electrically powered front axle. The system located in the front of the car contains two drive shafts and a motor generator unit, together with planetary gearbox, which retrieves its own energy from the electric flywheel accumulator mounted alongside the driver in the cockpit, according to Audi.
The energy is stored during deceleration, and then transferred to a flywheel that can shoot it back to the front axle for added acceleration.
In the process, the front wheels drive the motor generator unit. This accelerates a carbon-fiber flywheel, which runs in a high vacuum. Once the car takes a corner and the driver accelerates, the system delivers the energy to the front axle – but only above a speed of 75 mph, the manufacturer added.
The 3.7-litre V6 engine can muster 510 horsepower and speeds of more than 185 miles per hour.
As for price, if you have to ask, well, you know the rest …
The Cotton Boll Conspiracy 
COOL!
Oh, yeah.
oh baby! I’m just a sucker for a fast car…and eco-friendly!
Eco-friendly in theory, but I’m not sure that this baby’s getting a whole lot of miles/kilometers to the gallon/liter. But then again, if you can afford one of these, fuel mileage probably isn’t high on your list of concerns.
ha! if I could afford one of those…
the important thing is somebody’s trying.