If you had any doubt that electric pickup trucks were the hot new thing, the Audi Activesphere Concept (the last of the “-sphere” concepts) should finally convince you. Yes, it looks like a blend of one of Audi’s coupe-like hatches called Sportbacks, and its lifted wagons called Allroads, but it’s also a pickup when you want.
At the press of the button, the rear hatch splits. The top half slides up the roof to open up the cargo area, and the rear flips down to become the tailgate. The whole cargo area has rugged materials to handle dirty and bulky items. There are even brackets to easily mount bikes. And to keep the passenger area enclosed and safe from weather and dirty cargo, a divider rises up behind the rear seats. Though we would hope that there would be an option to open it up in truck mode like a Silverado EV or Ram Revolution mid-gate.
The convertible truck bed is definitely the headline feature, but there’s still more to talk about. Starting from the outside, the car is about the same length as the Audi A7 Sportback, but a few inches wider and taller. That’s due to the raised ride height and roughly 34-inch diameter tires. Those tires are mounted to fancy wheels that can open up for better ventilation, or stay closed and smooth for aerodynamics. Air suspension allows the car to adjust ground clearance between 8.2 and 9.8 inches.
Inside is where more wild Activesphere features are included. The interior is typically minimalist, and the seats hang off a big center console that features storage as well as a heated and cooled section for beverages. The steering wheel and dashboard can retract for fully autonomous mode. In this mode, the cabin becomes extremely airy, leaving the front glass (which fills the space traditionally occupied by a grille) completely unobstructed. The glass in the lower parts of the doors and the roof augment the open feeling.
But the interior’s showpiece is the augmented reality system. With the use of special glasses, all kinds of information and controls can be displayed to the driver and passengers. And thanks to eye and hand tracking, people can interact with virtual controls. Each person can have customized controls and displays depending on what they want to do. Audi even says the glasses could be used outside the car, such as providing navigation directions for walking around a city or on trails.
What’s not visible are the car’s powertrain and platform. The Activesphere uses the Premium Platform Electric (PPE) architecture. It was co-developed by Audi and Porsche, and will appear in a production Audi product by the end of this year. Audi says the Activesphere has 100-kWh worth of capacity, and range is estimated at more than 373 miles (600 kilometers). The 800-volt battery system enables fast charging speeds up to 270 kW. A pair of motors, one up front and one in the rear, propel the car, and they make 436 horsepower and 531 pound-feet of torque.
While the Activesphere is of course just a concept, it feels like we could see a car inspired by it in the near future. Coupe-like crossovers have proven to be very popular in the premium segment, and Audi has even launched similar products such as the E-Tron Sportback. And Audi’s Allroads have quite the cult following. It seems like this type of car would be a no-brainer for the brand. As for the truck features? Well, they sure would be cool and probably useful. But they could be complicated and expensive, even for a luxury brand like Audi, to make reality.
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- Source: https://www.autoblog.com/2023/01/26/audi-activesphere-concept-reveal-sportback-allroad-pickup-truck-ev/
