The first hybrid

The 1980s are fondly remembered for any number of great – and not so great things – from fashion to culture, music to movies. Suits with big shoulder pads, Back to the Future and MTV, just to get the ball rolling. Live Aid, ‘greed is good’ and big hair bands to name some others. On the technology front, personal computers started making their presence felt and CDs (Compact Discs) were a big thing. But while most of these and many other 1980s standouts have become little more than historical footnotes (personal computers and Back to the Future excepted of course), one technology that didn’t gain great traction in the 1980s, is very much a force today.

The technology has certainly changed since, but it was back in 1989 that Audi debuted the brand’s first vehicle with hybrid drive. Called the Audi duo, this petrol-electric hybrid was based on the Audi 100 Avant (C3) and was built in collaboration with Pöhlmann KG, based in the Bavarian town of Kulmbac.

Debuted at the Geneva Motor Show in March 1990, at the time the duo was a vehicle that really pushed the envelope of what was possible. Its 2.3-litre five-cylinder, fuel-injected engine produced 100kW and drove the front wheels. This was mated to a nickel-cadmium battery situated under the boot floor, that drove a direct current Siemens electric motor mounted to the rear axle, producing 9kW. 

The battery weighed 181kg, had a capacity of 64.8 volts and 8.4 kWh and could be fully recharged in 10 hours using a standard 220-volt household outlet. It allowed for around 38 kilometres of all-electric driving, but to utilise this, the driver had to stop the vehicle and engage E from neutral. The Audi duo could hit 50km/h in electric drive before the petrol engine kicked in, and it was possible to have both power sources working together for all-wheel drive in slippery conditions. It featured regenerative braking and Audi also experimented with the use of solar panels integrated into the roof to assist in recharging.

The original duo never went into series production but was used more as a research and development tool. A second version of the duo was produced in 1991 using a 2.0-litre four-cylinder engine and then in 1997 a more modern version was produced based on the A4 Avant of the time (the B5 A4 Avant).

Using a 66kW TDI engine in concert with a 20kW electric motor and a lead gelatin battery mounted aft, it could drive the A4 Avant duo to 80km/h in electric mode and 170km/h with its TDI power plant. This too featured plug-in charging as well as energy recuperation under braking.

While this model did go into limited production, costs were high and only a small number were produced for sale. Other hybrid-drive models followed, including the A3 e-tron and Q7 e-trons – both of which refined the process even more and were available in Australia in limited numbers.

Now of course, the idea of hybrid drive is very much in the mainstream, with models like the Audi Q5 TFSI e quattro and the Q8 TFSI e quattro offering seamless transition on the fly between combustion and fully-electric drive, as well as the ability to charge on the go.

But while these latest plug-in electric models from the brand are state-of-the-art, they show that the Audi duo, which was considered a novelty by some at the time, was in fact a pioneer that paved the way for today’s plug-in hybrid technology.