The Audi F12 is a Rolling Electric Research Project with an R8 Body

AudiAudiGermany, 1909 > present83 models
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, Bosch and RWTH Aachen University have developed a rolling research base with the body of an R8Audi R8Germany, 2006 > present44 versions
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. The F12, as it is known, has been in development for the last three years and cost €36 million. The partners believe that they have developed a scalable architecture for eletric vehicles that could also be used for future plug-in hybrid vehicles. 

The F12 represents the state of the art in electric car engineering. There are three electric motors. The one in the front is tuned for economy and works at low speeds. The two other electric motors are mounted in the rear wheels and tuned for performance. Total power for all of them is 204hp and 406lb-ft of torque. The F12 has a total of 38kWh of battery power that come from two separate battery packs.

It uses a single-speed tranmission with Reverse, Park, Neutral and Drive buttons on the center tunnel. 

The electrical system switches between running at 144v or 216v. During high load periords like acceleration it can increase to up to 440v. This allows the car to increase efficiency when less power is needed. 

Instead of air conditioning, the F12 has a heat pump that also regulates the temperature of the batteries. 

Audi donated several parts of the car but much of the development came from German universities. Students from Aachen University and technical universities of Munich, Dresden and Ilmenau, Leibniz University Hanover and the Fraunhofer institutes all worked on parts of the car. The German Federal Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF) gave €23 million to the program. Each group worked on one of a dozen work packages for the car. 

“Young, independent free-thinkers worked together with the experts from the Technical Development departments at Audi and Bosch. We enjoyed a constant sharing of our respective knowledge and different work cultures," said Dr. Christian Allmann, one of the project managers.