The project house for the high-voltage battery technology is located two kilometers from the Ingolstadt plant. Around 100 electronics experts newly hired by Audi specifically for this project work at the facility, which covers 3,500 square meters. Panasonic is a key external partner and is responsible for supplying the battery cells. The basic concept behind this competence center is to promote close collaboration between all the disciplines involved in high-voltage technology.

The key areas of focus of the high-voltage battery project house include:

• The high-voltage (HV) testing area: testing of HV batteries at cell, module and system level;

• The battery pilot plant facility: prototyping and small-series production of HV battery systems;

• The design and development of own hardware and software for all components; and

• The development and manufacture of batteries for the Audi R8 e-tron and all Audi A1 e-tron fleet batteries.

BFFT Gesellschaft für Fahrzeugtechnik mbH was responsible for the detailed planning of the high-voltage battery project house. Particular attention was paid to safety in terms of using the sensitive equipment. Construction began in April 2010 and was completed in May this year.

The new high-voltage battery project house is another major step toward electric mobility for our company. Here we are building up important development and manufacturing expertise for high-voltage batteries with a view to future model series. At the same time, we are ensuring that they meet Audi’s exacting quality requirements.

—Michael Dick, Member of the Board of Management for Technical Development

The name “Audi e-tron” is the Audi brand name for electric mobility. Audi’s aim is to offer an e-tron model in every segment by 2020.