2 years ago

Overview
As you might have seen over the past year, Audi does not hold back when it comes to its concept cars. After the Skysphere and the Grandsphere concepts showcased last year, it is now time for the Audi Urban Sphere concept. The Ingolstadt-based brand is in fact third in a series of prototype cars with the suffix ’-sphere’ in its moniker.
The Audi Urbansphere Concept has been designed keeping the current Chinese cities in mind, where space is a constraint. The idea is that the Urbansphere would be your little cocoon away from the outside world.
Designed to be a space where you can unwind and relax, while your Urbansphere swiftly wafts you along to your destination in absolute comfort. However, Audi is confident that the principle is applicable to pretty much any congested metropolis across the world.
What will the future shape of Audi's luxury sector look like? "It fundamentally challenges the class's conventional thinking," reads a side note for a city car that appears like it's far from easy to drive.

Exterior
Now, the name Urbansphere might have implied that this was going to be a small city car, however, the exterior dimensions are nothing short of enormous. When creating the Urbansphere, it appears that Audi didn’t really pay much attention to the dimensions.
The EV is 5.51 meters long, 2.01 meters wide, and 1.78 meters tall. To give you some context, this all-electric van is longer than the A8 L Horch. Okay, so this is far from an urban runabout, but Audi has thrown in rear-wheel steering and Level 4 Autonomous driving tech to make life that bit easier.
Enough about size and heft, lets’s talk exterior styling for a moment here because there’s a lot going on here. That one-piece element that forms the single frame upfront has a vast array of LEDs that can do so much more than just lighting.
The entire surface essentially behaves like a canvas, hence the name - Audi Light Canvas. They can show you everything from the state of charge, acceleration, and braking.

Interior
Okay, now to the pièce de résistance of the Urbansphere: When you approach the vehicle, the doors open suicide-style, and what appears to be a virtual red carpet is projected onto the ground. Now that should make every ride an occasion, shouldn’t it?
Also, inspired by Chinese umbrellas, hidden within those suicide doors lies a self-illuminating umbrella. Getting in and out should be a breeze as a footstep also automatically deploys while the seats swivel out at the same time.
Once inside, and seated in one of the four futuristic armchairs, you’re greeted with what could very likely be the future of car interiors. Wood, wool, and synthetic textile fabrics are what make up the seat coverings (made out of ECONYL) a recycled polyamide, floors carpets of this well-lit air cabin, thanks again to that glass roof.
Now Audi is paying a great deal of attention to the wellness aspect of people who ride in the Urbansphere. The car, for example, includes an integrated stress detection system.

Performance
The Urbansphere comes to life at the touch of a button. You can choose to manually operate the vehicle or summon the level 4-autonomous driving tech. If you enable this system, the pedals, and the steering will retract into the dash and the driver too can unwind, using one of the many displays in the cabin. We’ve also seen something similar on the BMW Mini Urbanout.

Under the floor of the Urbansphere lies a 120 kWh battery pack and is based on the PPE (Premium Technology Electric) platform.
The battery powers the front and rear axles’ electric motors that have a combined output of 368 horsepower. An 800-volt system with a maximum output of 270 kW can be used to put charge back into this battery pack. You should be able to replenish about 186 miles or 300 kilometers in 10 minutes. The 120 kWh battery can be charged from 5% to 80% in 25 minutes. The WLTP range is over 466 miles or 750 km.
The adaptive air suspension is designed to isolate you from what’s happening underneath the vehicle, ideal for those riddled surfaces that you find in the heart of any city these days.

#WikiCar
#AudioUrbanSphere
#UrbansphereConcept

Loading comments...