(Photo by Chalky Lives on Flickr)
German automaker Audi has been one of the leaders in developing greener production process for its cars and SUVs in the last decade. Audi factories throughout the world have started using closed cycles for water sprayed during production to avoid waste and prevent pollutants from entering water supplies. The company has started recycling old Audi models to create new parts and bodies without wasting resources. While Audi is cleaning things up from the production side of its worldwide operations, it has also shown leadership in developing hybrid cars.
Audi’s A1 Sportback hybrid is a five-door sedan that mixes the company’s stylish body with a gas-electric drive system. The A1 Sportback is capable of hitting 62 miles per hour from a dead stop in 7.9 seconds, maintaining the power that Audi has produced for decades. Audi claims that the A1 Sportback can travel up to 60 miles on a single electrical charge. The vehicle’s profile, its customary silver paint job and its ability to reach 124 miles per hour shows that Audi is trying to walk the fine line between sustainability and power.
The 2009 Audi Q7 Hybrid concept SUV was introduced recently as part of the automaker’s next line of eco-friendly vehicles. The Q7 Hybrid would produce a 15% improvement in fuel economy over the traditional Q7 model with an electric-gas drive train. Audi has cited a 0 to 62 mph measurement of 6.8 seconds for the Q7 Hybrid, showing a continuation of the company’s powerful engines as it gets greener. This SUV and its sedan counterpart may be in jeopardy as Audi engineers still feel that they can improve on emissions and fuel efficiency for traditional diesel engines.
Audi has also experimented with synthetic fuels that produce low emissions and require no retrofitting of vehicles in their fleet. The company has been using a synthetic fuel called SynFuel in a handful of A8 sedans during the annual World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. SynFuel uses natural gas in liquid form to power Audi vehicles without noxious fumes and a limited amount of sulfur dioxide. Audi also cites a 93% decrease in carbon monoxide emissions in A8s running on SynFuel during the yearly forum. While Audi hybrid cars may have a larger effect on the consuming public, SynFuel shows that the automaker is searching for green solutions in all aspects of driving.
