Audi e-tron 2010 with 4500 Nm Project

Oh - about that model car - wouldn't it be cheaper to grab parts from the production model and change the looks for the concept, than to build an entire new scale model? I think explanation is easy. You remember old trains when they started they would spin wheels couse max power was available at start. Well it's kinda same idea. DC motors have max torque at 0 rpm but once they take off torque drops down. Harvesting this kinda power was a big problem until VFD (variable frequency drive) was introduced. Through bunch of resistors you are able to accelerate normaly since max current is controled. I guess having so much torque and trying to have traction forces them to limit the car. Could be wrong will see.. As out4ride said, though max torque is available from 0rpm, it drops off linearly (assuming perfect model) as speed increases until at max rpm it produces just enough torque to overcome internal back-torque from drag. Power output remains constant across the rev range.
Don't forget, though 4500Nm seems massive, these wheel mounted motors typically don't have gearboxes, its directly connected. So if you consider the torque a normal car might produce at the wheels in first gear, its not that different. A normal turbo-diesel with 400Nm would be putting down around 4000Nm at the wheels in first gear .
And with a range of 154 miles! (assuming you drive at 30mph on the flat) Use the performance and this figure will drop to closer to 50 miles or even less. In other words absolutely no practical value whatsover in the real world unless used for posing around city streets!

The R8-looking e-tron concept of IAA 2009 is powered by four electric motors on each axle. They in turn are powered by a 213kg lithium-ion battery pack located behind the two seats. Maximum system power is 230kW (313hp) and peak torque is a mammoth 4,500Nm (3,319.03 lb-ft). Audi says it will go from 0 - 100km/h (0 - 62mph) in 4.8 seconds and record a top speed of 200km/h (124mph). On a fully-charged battery the car will go on for 248km (154 miles).The e-tron should be launched in the US by 2012 at the latest. It will compete with cars from Fisker and others, as well as the production version of the BMW Vision EfficientDynamics Concept. Several other clean Audis are headed for North America including the Q5 hybrid set for a 2011 debut.that torq and power figures just tell you that the engines are turning slowly. so big torq numbers mean nothing if the power is missing. high torq at high enough revs is what makes a car really shift and it is called power. torqueless engine can always be compensated with low enough gears, and big number of gears, but low power figure cant be compensated, that is why the weakish 0-60mph time.
The range is good for this car. That is the big thumbs up, not the torq figure
That's a good point, torque isn't just representative of power, it's representative of the size of the object it's turning. To have such a large torque yet such a low power output probably indicates a very large axis of rotation moving very slowly. It's a good headline figure, but the 0-100 time shows it's not on the pace of modern petrol engines.

Source : Worldcarfans.com