Audi’s PB 18 e-tron: A Visionary Design That Never Made It to Production

[Source: Hot Cars]

Over the years Audi has created so many incredible concept cars that we sometimes forget about some of them. The folks over that Hot Cars recently reminded us of one of those that we had forgotten, the PB 18 e-tron. It is a staggering concept, and it was revealed just seven years ago yet with all the focus on the Audi Concept C, the old PB 18 e-tron fell off the radar. But we still want Audi to build it.

The PB 18 e-tron was unveiled on August 23, 2018 at Pebble Beach Automotive Week in Monterey, California. It was a vision for the high-performance sports car of tomorrow. The motorsport inspired car looks like it would stick to the road like peanut butter sticks to the roof of your mouth. However, the ‘PB’ in PB 18 doesn’t stand for peanut butter. The concept gets its name from the fact that it was revealed at Pebble Beach and shares technological DNA with the LMP1 racing car, Audi R18 e-tron.

Design

The striking design was penned at the Audi Design Loft in Malibu, California. And wow, does it look good. The car is just less than 15 feet long, 6.5 feet wide and just 4.6 feet tall. Viewed from the side, the eye is drawn to the gently sloping roof line which is pulled far to the back and features massive C-pillars. Together with the large and almost vertical rear window, this design is reminiscent of a shooting brake concept. This beautiful car never made it to production. Or did it?

Take a look at the new Ferrari 12Cilindri. Look at it from a rear three quarter view. Doesn’t the new Ferrari look very similar to the PB 18 e-tron? It seems to us that Ferrari was copying Audi’s homework. Although to our eyes, the Audi still looks better than the Ferrari. 

Technology

But to be fair, the Ferrari actually made it to production. The big reason the Audi didn’t is because it was counting on technology that still doesn’t exist. The PB 18 was using a liquid-cooled solid-state battery with an energy capacity of 95 kWh. A full charge provides for a range of over 500 kilometers (310.7 miles) in the WLTP cycle. The Audi PB 18 e-tron is already designed for charging with a voltage of 800 volts. With that Audi was expecting the battery to be fully recharged in about 15 minutes.

However, seven years later there is still not a single automaker that uses solid-state battery technology. It will probably get here someday but we don’t know when that will be. However, there is one bit of PB 18 e-tron technology that is now in place. That is wireless charging. Audi promised the car could be charged via induction with Audi Wireless Charging (AWC). That didn’t exist in 2018. However, sister company Porsche just announced recently that the new, all-electric generation of the Cayenne will offer wireless induction charging.

The powerful electric motors in the PB 18 e-tron were estimated to be able to launch the car to 60 mph in about 2 seconds flat. But it was not just a straight-line wonder. The Audi R18 e-tron quattro Le Mans racing car served as the model for the suspension architecture.

The PB 18 e-tron was built for speed and efficiency, and it had a drop-dead gorgeous design. You can’t ask for much more than that. Actually, we can think of one more thing we could ask for. Audi, will you please build this?