- For the e-tron project
we had to incorporate
every single bit of
knowledge and expertise
that we as a department
had in both the fields
of aerodynamics and aeroacoustics.
My name is Moni Islam, and I'm
the head of aerodynamics and aeroacoustics
development at Audi.
- In terms of aeroacoustics an e-tron
has similar problems that a conventional
car has and we have learned to solve
these problems over many years.
My name is Gerhard Wickern.
I'm doing aerodynamics at Audi
for the e-tron project.
- [Moni Islam] Aerodynamics
plays a key role
in the case of electric vehicles,
the driving distance of the vehicles,
and aeroacoustics is very
important because it's
essential for the noise
level inside the car.
- [Gerhard Wickern] The Audi wind tunnel,
when it was starting it was an industrial
wind tunnel with ground simulation,
so moving ground underneath the car
before only used in Formula 1.
Because our wind tunnel is so silent
we are able to develop more silent cars.
- [Moni Islam] The sound of silence
is actually a really important concept
for us in aeroacoustics development
for the e-tron because it doesn't have
a combustion engine and
it's extremely quiet.
So that means that all other noise sources
will be all the more prominent.
So we set ourselves a target of making
a really really quiet
vehicle for the e-tron.
- [Gerhard Wickern] The e-tron was
a very interesting project
for an aerodynamicist.
It was a rare chance to
start with white paper
and you get a lot of things as
an aerodynamicist you always dream of.
- [Moni Islam] I think
one of the unique things
about the e-tron is that it has this
very sporty, very coupe-like silhouette,
which is quite uncharacteristic of an SUV.
One of the very fundamental
reasons it has this shape
is that the aerodynamics require it.
Since the e-tron is a fully
battery electric vehicle,
it gives us as aerodynamicists quite
a number of possibilities
that we can work with
to generate an aerodynamic optimum.
First off is the fact that we have
a closed and a flat underbody,
which is the dream of
every aerodynamicist.
- [Gerhard Wickern] On
an electric car there's
a large area which is
smooth and flush anyway,
because it's under shield of the battery,
and for the rest, so under the axles,
we have designed nice covers which are
equally flush to the battery underside.
- [Moni Islam] We have another feature
like the active inlet
shutters which allow us
to resrict the flow of cooling air
to configurations only where it's needed.
- [Gerhard Wickern] An electric car needs
much less cooling than a conventional car
so we have a cooling shutter which closes.
- [Moni Islam] We have the inlet ducts
at the front side of the
vehicle which allow us
to channel air in a
very efficient way from
the front to the side of the vehicle.
We have included acoustic dampening glass
which basically filters out the important
frequencies of wind noise.
We took the best of everything that we had
in our toolbox and we
developed it into this vehicle,
and the result is what you see now,
or actually, better, what you hear now.
It's an extremely quiet vehicle,
and it's one of the quietest
vehicles in its class.
