Open up your mind and say, ahh...

Damn those Germans for designing attractive electric vehicles that promise a measure of style and luxury, only to taunt us by never actually selling them.

Audi is especially guilty of this, tempting us first with the gorgeous R8-based e-tron and e-tron Spyder and now with the A3 e-tron shown today at TED2012. The A3 e-tron joins the BMW Active E on the list of lustworthy practical electric cars we’ve seen from the Germans.

The car is, as the name suggests, an A3 with a 100-kilowatt electric motor and a hefty 26-kilowatt-hour lithium-ion battery. Range is pegged at 90 miles. When the car first broke cover in April, Audi said it would hit 60 mph in under 11 seconds.

The A3 is part of a pilot program designed to “define a progressive e-mobility driver experience” and “identify challenges and opportunities with plug-in vehicles.” In other words, it’s an R&D program to refine the vehicle and the drivetrain. That explains why the car is being rolled out under a pilot program in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Washington D.C. and Denver.

Audi engineers and “technical experts” will spend the next year driving the cars, using the data to develop the cars we might one day see in showrooms.

Photos, video: Audi

The on-again, off-again story of the super-sexy Cadillac Converj is on again.

So says John Voelcker of Green Car Reports, who cites an “inside source, a person close to the project” saying the plug-in hybrid — essentially a tarted-up Chevrolet Volt — is a go.

We’ve heard this a couple of times since General Motors unveiled the Cadillac Converj at the Detroit auto show two years ago. No less than an authority than then-GM vice chairman and vociferous Volt proponent Bob Lutz said early last year that the brass had approved it. Three months later, however, came word that GM had shelved the project.

It appears to be back. Voelcker’s source says management has approved production for 2013 as a 2014 model. It will feature “a Generation 1.5 Voltec drivetrain” with a little more oomph than the drivetrain underpinning the Chevrolet Volt.

We asked Cadillac spokesman Dave Caldwell about this. As usual, he essentially said, “Maybe.”

“We’ve said all along that we have enthusiasm for this idea… and luckily others do too,” he told us. “Our product plans are things we keep internal, and frankly, they are subject to change as is the case in any business.

“It’s not as if Converj has crossed some sort of milestone – so, no we cannot confirm that it’s certain to reach production,” Caldwell said. “But we can say that it’s a concept we remain interested in.”

There are compelling reasons for GM to pursue this project. First, and perhaps most importantly, it will help recoup the massive investment in the Volt. By spreading the technology among other models, GM can bring down costs. This important, because one of the Volt’s biggest drawbacks is its $40K price tag. Even at that price, General Motors is almost certainly losing money. It would be far more profitable to pack that drivetrain into a premium coupe.

The Volt has proven more popular than even the brass expected — GM is ramping up production sooner than planned — so offering what is essentially an upscale Volt could bring in new customers. And it would give Cadillac a much-needed green(er) car because, frankly, the Escalade Hybrid is a joke.

The new federal fuel efficiency standards — which will require corporate fleets to average 54.5 mpg by 2025 — provide another incentive for cars like the Converj.

Yes, Cadillac’s got the XTS Platinum Hybrid concept and we keep hearing rumors of a plug-in hybrid SRX, but so far there’s no word either project has been approved. Which brings us back to the Covnerj. GM’s already got the drivetrain. It could use a variation on the Cadillac CTS-V coupe for the body. The rest is just details.

We’ve said it before. We’ll say it again: Build it.

Photos: General Motors

Imagine a bike built for cruising, but with a range of just 60 miles and hardly a rumble from nonexistent pipes.

That’s the Orphiro, a battery-powered cruiser made in the Netherlands. Company founder Alexander Steegh says the slick streamlined exterior covers five lithium-ion batteries putting out 72 volts. Top speed is 75 mph, and recharging the batteries takes six and a half hours. It’s a bike better matched with a well-fitted suit than black leather.

Steegh has been working with a dozen other people over the past year and a half to bring the Orphiro to market. He hopes companies will order it for promotional use. He says he’s received some interest after a sneak preview of the machine, but he’s waiting until the official debut at the end of September to take any orders.

The entire motorcycle is the work of Steegh and his designers.

“We made the drivetrain,” he said. “It is our design. We also made a lot of special parts in the electric circuit as well as the frame and the bodywork.”

Though previous electric motorcycles have been all about speed, an electric cruiser could be ideal.  Much like the smooth and suave Rolls-Royce Phantom was ripe for electrification, a cruiser bike also makes a great plug-in. They’re big enough for the batteries, weight isn’t as much of an issue and most cruisers do just that — cruise, so speed isn’t a top concern.

Plus, it’s good looking — though we can’t imagine any biker swapping their Fat Boy for one.

Hat-Tip to Bikes In The Fast Lane

Photos: Alexander Steegh, Orphiro

General Motors has always said electricity is the only thing that turns the wheels of the Chevrolet Volt. Turns out that isn’t true.

A high speeds, the Volt’s 1.4-liter gasoline engine provides a mechanical assist to the electric motor propelling the car, and it could, in theory, turn the wheels directly. That makes the Chevrolet Volt a plug-in hybrid, plain and simple. The revelation comes as General Motors brings journalists from around the world to Detroit to drive the Volt and sends a convoy of Volts out on a PR tour.

In some ways this is a semantic argument about highly technical points of the Volt’s drivetrain. Frankly, most consumers won’t care. But it goes to GM’s credibility, because the company has wasted no opportunity to call the Volt an electric vehicle. That has some people accusing the company of lying. That’s a bit strong, but it threatens to overshadow the launch of what is, at the bottom line, an impressive bit of engineering and a pretty special car.

First, the background. From the moment General Motors unveiled the Chevrolet Volt concept at the Detroit auto show three years ago, it has insisted the Volt is an EV. Yes, it has an internal combustion engine, but GM always said it only drives a 53-kilowatt generator. (Contrary to some reports, the engine does not recharge the battery.) That generator keeps electricity flowing to the 111 kilowatt motor when the 16 kilowatt-hour lithium-ion battery goes dead.

GM says the car will deliver 25 to 50 miles of electric range, though it long claimed you’d see 40; Popular Mechanics averaged 33 during its recent drive. Once the engine generator kicks on, you can go as far as 310 miles if you’ve got a full tank of gas. As for the fuel economy, we always knew that 230-mpg claim GM made last year was marketing BS. Popular Mechanics got 37.5 mpg city and 38.15 highway.

General Motors calls the drivetrain “Voltec” and the car it propels an extended-range electric vehicle.

“The Chevrolet Volt is not a hybrid,” General motors says in the press release, issued Sunday, announcing the car’s launch. “It is a one-of-a-kind all-electrically driven vehicle designed and engineered to operate in all climates.”

Actually, it’s not quite all-electric. The gasoline engine assists the electric motor once the car reaches about 70 mph, regardless of whether the car is running in battery mode or charge-sustaining mode (when the engine generator is providing the juice). Frank Markus of Motor Trend breaks it down in a detailed piece that says Voltec is remarkably similar to the drivetrain you’ll find in a Toyota Prius or other hybrid. Like a hybrid, Voltec uses a single planetary gearset, an internal combustion engine and two electric motor/generators.

“But the way the Chevy connects them is entirely different and — if you ask me — superior,” Markus writes.

His explanation of how the system works is highly technical, but the bottom line is the gasoline engine/generator combo directly — i.e. mechanically — assists the traction motor at highway speeds. But he is quick to add that the engine could not, for all practical purposes, drive the wheels itself.

“In defense of Chevy’s earlier stance, the only way this gasoline engine (or the Prius’) could ever drive the wheels without lots of help from the battery is if you somehow MacGuyvered up a way to jam the sun gear the planetary geatset’s central gear to a stop,” he writes.

That’s an important distinction, and one that many people are overlooking. The gasoline engine could directly propel the wheels, but it won’t directly propel the wheels. Doing so would require physically stopping the sun gear from turning within the planetary gearbox, Tony Posawatz, vehicle line director for the Volt, told Wired.com.

“It can never run the vehicle by itself,” he said of the internal combustion engine and generator combo. “It is only a support to the traction motor. You cannot drive that car only on gasoline power. It’s an impossibility. The traction motor always has to be on.”

The internal combustion engine is bolted directly to the 53-kilowatt generator; it drives the generator with a 1:1 gear ratio. When the electric motor approaches 70 mph, it is spinning so fast that it is at the edge of its efficiency, Posawatz said. GM’s engineers decided to use the engine-generator combination as an assist to reduce the electric motor’s speed (RPMs) and increase efficiency — and therefore range.

“We literally reduce the speed of the motor by half,” Posawatz said. “In battery electric mode that’s a 5 to 10 percent increase in efficiency. In extended range electric mode (when the generator is providing the electricity), it’s a 10 to 15 percent increase in efficiency.”

Posawatz repeatedly said the Volt will not run under gasoline power alone, and he insists that makes the Volt an electric vehicle.

“Without the traction motor running, the car will not run,” he said.

Strictly speaking, then, the Volt is a plug-in hybrid because it uses two sources of energy — electricity and gasoline — and the battery is recharged by plugging the car in. And that is a semantic point that most consumers won’t know — or care — about. But GM is taking a lot of heat for calling the Volt an electric vehicle. Inside Line flat-out says, “GM lied,” a position Jalopnik repeats and other bloggers parrot.

Posawatz said, “We stand by all of our original statements that we’ve made.” GM didn’t lie, he said, but neither did it provide extensive detail about how Voltec works because it had to protect its intellectual property. The patent wasn’t approved until Sept. 21, he said.

“We wanted to make sure our patent had cleared,” before elaborating on the drivetrain, he said.

Regardless, GM clearly overstated its case when it had no obvious need to. Doing so has created a PR headache that threatens to overshadow, at least in the short term, the fact the Volt is a significant step forward for the company. We’ve driven the Volt at various stages of its development and drove a production model at Milford Proving Ground in July. The Volt is comfortable and quick, with snappy acceleration, decent handling and a smooth drivetrain. It’s handsomely styled and nicely appointed — all in all, a very nice car, even if it does cost $41,000 before the EV tax credit. And it marks a big step toward the electrification of the automobile by a company generally blamed for killing the electric car.

So the Volt is a plug-in hybrid. Big deal. There’s no shame in that. The shame is that by overstating the case, GM has people focusing on what the Volt isn’t, not what it is.

Photo: Jim Merithew / Wired.com