French sports car maker Alpine is amping up for an all-electric model range, introducing a prototype of its A110 coupe which is less powerful, heavier and can’t drive as far as its petrol counterpart.
The Alpine A110 sports car is going fully electric for its next generation – as previewed by the French company’s latest prototype.
Based on Alpine’s outgoing A110, the E-ternité was unveiled on Friday as a celebration of the French manufacturer’s 60th anniversary, coinciding with this year’s Formula One French Grand Prix.
Rather than the 1.8-litre turbocharged four-cylinder of its petrol-powered donor, the A110 E-ternité is powered by a single electric motor on its rear axle, borrowed from its parent company’s new Renault Megane E-Tech Electric.
Producing 178kW and 300Nm, it makes 7kW and 20Nm less than the least powerful petrol version of the A110 (185kW/320Nm).
The petrol car also quotes a longer driving range of 726km on a tank of petrol, according to Australian fuel economy data, while the electric concept can only run for 440km on a charge.
Weight is up too, with the electric sports car tipping the scales with 258 extra kilograms onboard, largely due to its 392kg battery pack.
Despite making less power and torque – and carrying around a quarter-tonne more – the battery-powered Alpine A110 matches the time needed for the petrol car to reach 100km/h from a standstill, managing the sprint in 4.5 seconds.
Over 1000 metres, the electric A110 will come home nearly a second after the petrol car, pushing on to a top speed of 250km/h.
Whereas the standard Alpine A110 has only ever been sold with a hardtop (sans sunroof), the A110 E-ternité features a removable roof.
Designed to allow open-air driving whilst not impacting the structural rigidity of the car, the roof shell is injected with recycled carbon for extra strength.
Alpine claims the A110 E-ternité retains the same performance, balance and agility of its petrol-powered sibling, fitting uprated Ohlins shocks, stiffer anti-roll bars and a unique two-speed dual-clutch transmission that’s said to retain the characteristics of the base car.
There are no plans to put the Alpine A110 E-ternité into production – instead it has been developed as a showcase of the French company’s future sports cars.
Alpine recently replaced Renault Sport as the carmaker’s performance brand, announcing plans to launch an electric hot hatch, medium SUV and sports car – with the lattermost to succeed the current A110 and be co-developed with Lotus.
The current-generation Alpine A110 was available in Australia from late 2018 until October 2021, until it was taken off sale due to new side-impact crash regulations – known as Australian Design Rule (ADR) 85 – late last year.
In the three years since it went on sale in September 2018, just 105 Alpine A110s were delivered in Australia.
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