Audi's clean and green future

By Ben Pulman

First Official Pictures

30 August 2007 04:30

What’s all this about then? Vorsprung durch Technik?

Audi, like every other German premium car maker, is feeling the pressure from the EU, its own Green Party, Al Gore, and seemingly everyone else. And unlike the French or Italian volume manufacturers which are already very close to the EU’s proposed 130g/km limit, the Germans are still a fair way off. Even with Chancellor Merkel fighting for them, they have to get clean and green, and have to be seen doing it. So, like Porsche last month, Audi has given unprecedented access to their Neustadt Proving Ground for a sneak preview of its forthcoming hybrids (both full and mild), CNG, E85, urea and other technologies.

Audi isn't committing to any specific fuel for the near-future. Instead it’s hedging its bets and exploring all sorts of cleaner, greener fuels - but it is planning to put a lot of them into production. The only thing that the company sees as a certainty is that hydrogen will not be in anything approaching general use for at least another 20 years. And when hydrogen does appear it will be in fuel-cell guise which Audi believes is a more efficient method than using hydrogen as a fuel to power traditional combustion engines, a la the BMW Hydrogen 7 and Ford C-Max H2 ICE.

By Ben Pulman