Alpine’s next A110 has moved from teaser to public running car.
The Alpine A110 Future made its global dynamic debut on the opening day of the Goodwood Festival of Speed, with Alpine Formula One driver Pierre Gasly taking the development mule up the hill. The Duke of Richmond, founder of the event, was in the passenger seat.
The car previews the third-generation A110, which will be fully electric and built on Alpine’s new Alpine Performance Platform, or APP.
Alpine calls it the first “true EV sportscar”, although that claim will depend on how sharply the finished car drives when it reaches production.
Alpine is not using a simple skateboard EV platform with a flat battery under the cabin. Instead, the A110 FUTURE uses two battery packs, split front and rear, to help keep the car low and close in proportion to today’s petrol A110.
The 800-volt battery system places 25% of its energy capacity at the front and 75% at the rear. The packs use cell-to-pack construction and sit in a high-pressure die-cast aluminium casing that also contributes to body stiffness. Alpine said the layout helps maintain a low driving position while leaving enough cabin space for a wide range of occupants.
Power comes from a dual rear electric powertrain. Each rear wheel gets its own motor, with 3-in-1 e-machines, 800-volt silicon carbide inverters and permanent magnet synchronous motors spinning up to 21,500rpm. Alpine is also using a 400-volt boost charging system.
The driving side is where Alpine has the most to prove. The current A110 is loved because it is light, compact and unusually delicate by modern sports-car standards. An electric successor will inevitably carry more battery weight, so the handling tools become critical.
Alpine Active Torque Vectoring 2.0 and Wheel Slip Torque Control are designed to trim understeer at corner entry and mid-corner, while managing torque during acceleration and lift-off. The systems sit inside a wider control suite covering braking, steering, battery and thermal management.
Alpine has also leaned heavily on simulation. Its DiM250 driver-in-the-loop simulator uses an A110 cockpit, a nine-metre conical screen and hexapod motion system to support chassis tuning, powertrain calibration, tyre work and control-system development. Alpine said more than 45,000km has been logged across its simulator projects.
Goodwood also gives Alpine a wider stage. Its stand and hillclimb runs include the A290 electric hot hatch, A390 sport fastback, current A110 models, the 1978 Le Mans-winning A442B and the V8-powered 2012 E20 Formula One car.
