Audi Preps e-gas Strategy

Chasing a brighter and greener future, Audi, one of the most important brands in the Volkswagen portfolio unveiled last week a CO2-neutral mobility plan of major proportions. Called the e-gas project, Audi's new approach is hoped to make the automaker one of the major players not only in the automotive field, but also in the energy one.

In the simplest of words, the e-gas project, the result of three years of hard work, comprises portfolio of sustainable sources of energy and is meant as a tool for Audi to become the world’s first automotive producer that makes its own green power, rather from purchasing it from third parties.

The first step Audi is taking to become independent when it comes to creating its own green energy is the installation of offshore North Sea wind turbines. The energy produced by the turbines will be at first fed to the public power grid, and later to be used for the production of the electric-drive e-tron models.

One wind turbine will be used to manufacture hydrogen by means of electrolysis, an element which is essential for the operation of fuel cell vehicles. Also to be used as a means to produce methane, the turbines will be at the core of the future line of TCNG engines, derived from today's TFSI units.

For this purpose, Audi will be constructing an e-gas plant, which will produce hydrogen and methane on an industrial scale. The plant will be built starting July 2011 in Werlte, Germany. The plant will annually produce some 1,000 metric tons of e-gas.

“Ecology and economy in unison: that is the greatest challenge of the future. To attain this we must bring mobility completely into equilibrium – with people and their new values and with the environment. CO2-neutral mobility is our goal,” said Audi chairman Rupert Stadler.