German automaker Audi’s 39 available model and engine variants now feature energy recuperation as standard in the Middle East.

The Audi energy recovery system, which uses kinetic energy during deceleration, increases efficiency, particularly in urban traffic and saves fuel – up to three percent, depending on the driving cycle, a company statement said.

The alternator operates with a new intelligent control system. It increases its secondary voltage during coasting and braking phases, producing more electric power.

It then converts kinetic energy – i.e. energy of motion – into electrical energy, which is stored temporarily in the battery.

When the car accelerates again, electrical consumers are supplied with power from the battery. In this way the alternator can operate at a low load when driving off and accelerating, according to the statement.

“Efficiency is standard in every Audi. We don’t need a marketing claim for it, because it is what Vorsprung durch Technik means,” said Jeff Mannering, managing director of Audi Middle East.

“For Audi, efficiency is the sum of many individual steps – many of them invisible to the customer, from engine sector, ancillaries and transmissions to energy management, body construction and driver assistance.”

“We are systematically investing over EUR5.5 billion ($7 billion) for the period 2010 through 2012 and some 80 percent of that amount will be channeled directly into new products, lightweight construction, and drive technologies of the future,” Mannering concluded. – TradeArabia News Service