Spy Shots: Audi R8 e-Tron caught testing at Nurburgring

Usually, when an auto maker wants to rev their car’s engine as loud as possible when pushing it to its limit, they take it to the Nurburgring race track. This time, however, our spy photographers had a few problems hearing the prototype testing at the famous race track and almost skipped it entirely. That’s because the prototype is the Audi R8 e-tron test mule

.

The R8 e-tron is not a secret anymore and every car addict knows that a production version will arrive sometime next year, but this prototype still shows that Audi is meaning business with their e-tron projects.

As you can see from the spy shots and may already know, the future R8 e-tron will look almost the same as the standard R8 sports car, except for the lack of exhaust pipes due to the fact that this a zero-emissions model. Then there’s the change in the rear window where fans can typically check out the V8 or V10 engines. That’s been covered up now that the engines are non-existent and there is also a big hole for the cooling of the batteries.

A production version of the Audi R8 e-tron will arrive in 2013, built in limited numbers.