Alpine A110 Electric Makes Its Debut at Goodwood

Alpine will bring the new-generation electric A110 to the Goodwood Festival of Speed. However, visitors will not see the final production version. The car that appears is still a test vehicle.

Autocar, quoted Saturday, June 20, reported that the electric sportscar prototype will be exhibited in a special Alpine session, along with several variants of the A110 gasoline-powered engine that are currently still marketed.

The appearance of the test car is not clear. Alpine has so far given little indication of the final design of the electric A110. Therefore, it is likely that the car brought to Goodwood still has a body similar to the gasoline A110.

The new A110 will use the Alpine Performance Platform or APP. This platform was developed with a focus on lightweight, aluminum construction, and an 800-volt electrical system.

The most interesting part is the battery. Alpine does not use one large battery like many high-performance electric cars. The new A110 uses two separate battery packs.

The two batteries are placed on the front and rear axles. As a result, the weight distribution becomes 40 to 60. This composition is slightly heavier to the rear than the gasoline A110 which is at 44 to 56.

Alpine CEO Philippe Krief previously said that a separate battery design was chosen so that the car's position would remain as low as the current A110. The car is also targeted to be able to travel more than 340 miles or about 547 kilometers on a single charge.

Krief said the electric A110 is designed to devour three laps of the Nürburgring Nordschleife without a drop in battery performance due to heat.

The rear battery position is made approximately where the current A110 gasoline engine is located. According to Krief, this arrangement opens up opportunities if the platform needs to be changed into an internal combustion engine car.

However, he emphasized that the compromise must not damage the character of the A110 as an electric car.

"If the answer is to make electric cars worse, we won't do it," Krief said.

In an interview with Autocar, Krief also said the A110 electric's empty weight would be equivalent to today's gasoline-powered sportscar. His estimate is around 1,500 kilograms.

The figure is much heavier than the current A110 which is around 1,100 kilograms. However, Alpine previously said that torque vectoring technology could help electric cars feel agile like a combustion engine car. Torque vectoring is a system that regulates the distribution of power to the wheels so that the car is more agile when cornering.

The A110 electric drive system has not been announced. However, the Renault 5 Turbo 3E which also uses APP can give a little clue. The hot hatch uses two electric motors on the rear wheels with a combined power of 533 hp and can accelerate from 0 to 100 kilometers per hour in 3.5 seconds.

Car manufacturers rarely bring test vehicles to a stage as big as the Goodwood Festival of Speed. Therefore, Alpine's move is a signal that the A110 electric project is nearing the launch stage. The car is expected to be fully introduced next year.