Previous Next 1 of 16 The Audi PB 18 Concept at its reveal in the pits of Laguna Seca Raceway during Monterey Car Week Chris Chin / Digital Trends The Audi PB 18 Concept at its reveal in the pits of Laguna Seca Raceway during Monterey Car Week Chris Chin / Digital Trends The Audi PB 18 Concept at its reveal in the pits of Laguna Seca Raceway during Monterey Car Week Chris Chin / Digital Trends The Audi PB 18 Concept at its reveal in the pits of Laguna Seca Raceway during Monterey Car Week Chris Chin / Digital Trends Chris Chin / Digital Trends The Audi PB 18 Concept at its reveal in the pits of Laguna Seca Raceway during Monterey Car Week Chris Chin / Digital Trends The Audi PB 18 Concept at its reveal in the pits of Laguna Seca Raceway during Monterey Car Week Chris Chin / Digital Trends The Audi PB 18 Concept at its reveal in the pits of Laguna Seca Raceway during Monterey Car Week Chris Chin / Digital Trends The Audi PB 18 Concept at its reveal in the pits of Laguna Seca Raceway during Monterey Car Week Chris Chin / Digital Trends The Audi PB 18 Concept at its reveal in the pits of Laguna Seca Raceway during Monterey Car Week Chris Chin / Digital Trends The Audi PB 18 Concept at its reveal in the pits of Laguna Seca Raceway during Monterey Car Week Chris Chin / Digital Trends The Audi PB 18 Concept at its reveal in the pits of Laguna Seca Raceway during Monterey Car Week Chris Chin / Digital Trends The Audi PB 18 Concept at its reveal in the pits of Laguna Seca Raceway during Monterey Car Week Chris Chin / Digital Trends The Audi PB 18 Concept at its reveal in the pits of Laguna Seca Raceway during Monterey Car Week Chris Chin / Digital Trends The Audi PB 18 Concept at its reveal in the pits of Laguna Seca Raceway during Monterey Car Week Chris Chin / Digital Trends The Audi PB 18 Concept at its reveal in the pits of Laguna Seca Raceway during Monterey Car Week Chris Chin / Digital Trends Sometimes, the basic information you need to know about a car is right in its name. Audi has introduced a concept called the PB18 E-Tron. It made its debut ahead of the 2018 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, hence the PB18 part of its name, and it’s powered by an electric drivetrain, which explains the E-Tron part. The name also suggests Audi’s newest design study is a tribute to the R18 race car that won the grueling 24 Hours of Le Mans four times in a row before retiring. The PB18 E-Tron rolls paddock-ready technology from the World Endurance Championship (WEC) and Formula E series into a supercar with an eye-catching shooting brake design that blurs the line between a coupe and a station wagon. Sharp headlights mounted on either side of a wide hexagonal grille bring the PB18’s front end in line with Audi’s design language. Autonomy? Not here; this concept won’t move an inch without a human driver behind the wheel. The air vents in front of the rear wheels remind us of the firm’s range-topping R8. All told, the concept exhibits the typical proportions of a mid-engined supercar without the large-displacement engine normally installed right behind the passenger compartment. Previous Next 1 of 5 We see some features borrowed from the upcoming E-Tron Quattro, an electric SUV Audi will introduce in September and release globally in the coming months. The PB 18 E-Tron uses the same rearview cameras as the E-Tron Quattro. They’re much thinner than conventional door mirrors so they reduce the car’s drag coefficient and boost range. The E-Tron will offer cameras as an option when it goes on sale, though the technology hasn’t been approved in the United States yet. Audi bucked the autonomy trend and instead developed the PB18 E-Tron with pure driving enjoyment in mind. Don’t look for state-of-the-art electronic convenience features like the A8 flagship‘s level-three traffic jam assist technology. This concept won’t move an inch without a human behind the wheel. Speaking of driving, the driver sits on the left side of the car when carrying a passenger, but the entire cockpit can slide toward the middle of the cabin to make the PB18 feel like a single-seater race car when it’s lapping a track. The two pedals become switches. “We want to offer the driver an experience that is otherwise available only in a racing car like the Audi R18. That’s why we developed the interior around the ideal driver’s position in the center. Nevertheless, our aim was to also give the PB18 e-tron a high degree of everyday usability, not just for the driver, but also for a potential passenger,” explained Gael Buzyn, the head of Audi’s design loft in Malibu, California. By-wire technology that seeped into the automotive industry from the aviation sector makes this configuration possible by eliminating the mechanical components of the steering and braking systems, like the steering column that normally connects the steering wheel to the steering rack. In this application, the steering wheel morphs into what’s essentially a large dial that electronically turns the wheels by sending input data directly to the steering rack; it’s like a more advanced version of the touchpad on your laptop. Audi’s electric car offensive will start with the aforementioned E-Tron Quattro and continue in 2019 with the reveal of a second, sportier model. The electric drivetrain consists of a solid-state battery pack that feeds two electric motors on the front axle and one installed in the back of the car. The three power sources channel 670 horsepower to the four wheels, though an overboost function bumps that figure up to 764 for short bursts of time. Torque checks in at 612 pound-feet. Audi pegs the 3,400-pound PB18’s 0-to-60 time at a hair over 2 seconds and claims a maximum driving range of about 310 miles. An 800-volt charging system tops up the battery pack in approximately 15 minutes. Solid-state batteries aren’t in production yet, so the aforementioned figures are largely hypothetical. Audi is working on making them a reality during the 2020s. It’s too early to tell what the future holds for the PB18 E-Tron. Audi’s electric car offensive will start with the aforementioned E-Tron Quattro and continue in 2019 with the reveal of a second, sportier model with a fastback-like design inspired by the Elaine concept. The floodgates will open after that. “Shortly after [the Elaine], we’re going to have battery-electric vehicles one after the other, cranking out a lot of vehicles,” Peter Mertens, the head of Audi’s research and development department, told Digital Trends last year. Time will tell whether the firm’s product plan includes a gasoline-free supercar modeled after the PB18. Updated on August 23: Added in-person photos from the Audi reveal event in the pits of WeatherTech Laguna Seca Raceway during Monterey Car Week. Editors' Recommendations<doc-sep>Who says a supercar needs to growl? Not Audi. The German luxury automotive brand revealed an electric supercar prototype at Pebble Beach Automotive Week in Monterey, California. The Audi PB 18 e-tron debuted late Thursday with a splash, aiming for the same rarified air as ultra-luxury supercars with wickedly powerful engines and sleek designs. Unlike sports cars, electric vehicles don't have engines and thus don't make window-rattling noise as they whip down the street. The concept car's reveal comes ahead of the official debut of the Audi e-tron electric production SUV in September — which is viewed as a serious competitor for Tesla in the luxury electric vehicle space. Unlike the Audi e-tron, the PB 18 e-tron won't be coming to dealerships anytime soon. But it's nice to dream once in a while. Audi described the PB 18 e- tron as part of "a new family of visionary automobiles" that serve "as a preview for the next decade." As a concept car, the vehicle uses a powerful battery and three electric motors to go 0 to 100 kilometers per hour (62.1 miles per hour) in just over 2 seconds. That blisteringly fast acceleration would place it among the world's fastest cars. With a full charge, its battery would be capable of enabling 310 miles of distance. And it can theoretically be fully charged with an 800-volt connection in 15 minutes. While that technology is not currently available widely, it's on its way. Or the vehicle can be charged wirelessly using charging pad induction technology. This car's interior is designed to empower track driving. Frankly, it's made to go obscenely fast. Audi designed a cockpit paired with a "monocoque shell that can be slid laterally," so that the driver can sit in the center of the vehicle for optimal vision and control. When the driver's seat is pushed to the side, there's room for a passenger. The vehicle also gets laser high beams, 22-inch wheels, carbon disc brakes, adaptive magnetic ride shock absorbers. Since this is a prototype car, there's no pricing to speak of. Which is probably for the best. That would just ruin the dream. More from USA Today: Am I the only mom who secretly wishes my kid won't play football? OMG! in Vegas: The best burrito you will ever try Alcohol is a leading cause of death, disease worldwide, study says<doc-sep>While Pebble Beach is a celebration of automotive history , it's becoming a great show for exhibiting the cars and technology of the future. Case in point: The Audi PB18 E-Tron concept, the newest electric performance concept sporting the four rings on its nose.The styling is quite fetching, looking sleek and muscular, or, to use Audi's words, "broad and flat." The company says the concept borrows DNA from the R18 Le Mans racer, and is "visibly inspired by the wind tunnel and the race track." It's also quite reminiscent of the Audi Aicon concept that graced the stage at the Frankfurt Motor Show last year, with one big difference: While the Aicon was all about automated driving, the PB18 features "Level Zero" autonomy. In other words, it's all about the driving experience.Its three electric motors provide all-wheel drive and offer a combined maximum output of 500 kW (or 670 horsepower) and 612 pound-feet of torque. It'll do 0-62 miles per hour in a little over 2 seconds. A 95-kWh solid state battery provides over 310 miles of driving range on a single charge. It features a charging capability of 800 volts, which means it can juice up in about 15 minutes. It also features wireless charging capability, so you don't even have to fuss around with a cable.<doc-sep>
We still have to wait another month to see the production version of Audi’s first next-gen all-electric, the e-tron quattro, but the German automaker is still giving us a glimpse at its electric future today. Audi is unveiling a new all-electric supercar prototype with solid-state batteries, 570 kW power and 800-volt charging system. It’s the all-electric ‘Audi PB18 e-tron’, which the company presents as “a radical vision for the high-performance sports car of tomorrow.” The automaker says that the vehicle is built on their years of experience in the Le Mans racing series and it is designed around the driver. By that, they mean that there’s no autonomous driving system in the vehicle or ‘complex systems for piloted driving’. It is also equipped with a by-wire design for the steering and pedals and it enables a configurable monocoque position in the center of the interior as in a monoposto. Gael Buzyn, Head of the Audi Design Loft in Malibu, where they designed the vehicle, commented: “We want to offer the driver an experience that is otherwise available only in a racing car like the Audi R18. That’s why we developed the interior around the ideal driver’s position in the center. Nevertheless, our aim was to also give the PB18 e-tron a high degree of everyday usability, not just for the driver, but also for a potential passenger.” Here you can see the transition between the two driving modes: As for the performance specs of the car, Audi went with next-generation everything. They say that the battery pack is equipped with solid-state batteries and total energy capacity of 95 kWh, which they claim is good enough for 500 kilometers (310.7 miles) in the WLTP cycle. Audi apparently also borrowed Porsche’s 800-volt battery architecture to enable a 350 kW charging capacity. As for the motors, there are 3 of them – one up front and two in the rear. The automaker explains: “The latter are centrally located between the steering knuckles, each directly driving one wheel via half-shafts. They deliver power output of up to 150 kW to the front axle and 350 kW to the rear – the Audi PB18 e-tron is a true quattro, of course. Maximum output is 500 kW, with boosting, the driver can temporarily mobilize up to 570 kW. The combined torque of up to 830 newton meters (612.2 lb-ft) allows acceleration from 0 to 100 km/h (62.1 mph) in scarcely more than 2 seconds – a speed that differs only marginally from that of a current LMP1 prototype.” The company said earlier this month that the e-tron quattro will also have a similar ‘boost’ mode. In the Audi PB18 e-tron, they claim it would enable a 0-60 mph acceleration in about 2 seconds. Some of the technology from those concept vehicles eventually trickles down to production models, but Audi is not talking about bringing this actual design to production right now. Dynamic photo Colour: Curcuit grey Static photo Colour: Curcuit grey Static photo Colour: Curcuit grey Interior Interior Static photo Colour: Curcuit grey FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More. Subscribe to Electrek on YouTube for exclusive videos and subscribe to the podcast.