Currently reading: Alpine A110 E-Ternité previews future electric sports car

French coupé is reimagined as an open-top testbed for an eventual electric sports car

French performance brand Alpine has revealed the electric A110 E-ternité as an intriguing glimpse of its all-EV future - hinting at the techniques its next-gen cars will use to minimise weight and maintain agility. 

Unveiled on the 60th anniversary of the Alpine A110 and displayed at the Paris motor show, it is not only the brand's first running and driving electric car, but also its first drop-top, featuring a removable roof section that has minimal impact on the car's rigidity and silhouette. 

Its unveiling was days after company CEO Laurent Rossi gave Autocar new details of the next-generation Alpine A110, which will swap its mid-mounted turbo four-pot for a pure-electric powertrain - but remain a highly bespoke proposition even as the sporting brand launches a line of models based on Renault-derived EV platforms.

"We hope to preserve the A110 DNA, and it might be quite different from the rest of the cars, despite platform sharing,” he said. “There’s nothing more similar than two electric cars nowadays: same platforms, same electric power, distributed to all wheels if you’re lucky, and it’s pretty much a matter of fine-tuning the output of the motors."

The new E-ternité prototype is not explicitly said to be a preview of the 2025 A110 EV, but stands as a showcase of the brand's commitment to the coupé's fan-favourite formula: compact, lightweight, dynamically capable and engagingly quick. 

Alpine a110 e ternite 2022 rear quarter paris motor show

As a "rolling laboratory", the E-ternité is being used by Alpine's engineers to explore ways of electrifying its flagship sports car. The firm describes it as a sort of "resto-mod" and says it serves as a "bridge between a prestigious past and an even more ambitious future". 

Based on the same chassis as the current production car, the E-ternité uses battery packs from the Renault Mégane E-Tech – whose CMF-EV platform will underpin Alpine's own upcoming electric crossover – but houses them in bespoke casings and spreads them around the chassis for optimum weight distribution: there are four at the front and eight at the rear - in a bid to maintain the A110's characteristic mid-engined handling behaviour.

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The cells weigh 392kg, but Alpine claims to have increased the prototype's kerb weight by a total of only 258kg - putting the E-ternité at 1378kg at the kerb. If the eventual A110 EV comes in at somewhere around that point, it could be one of the lightest series-production EVs on sale. That's not only good news for its handling characteristics, but also its efficiency: Alpine claims a range of 261 miles per charge.

Performance-wise, the prototype is a close match for the combustion car on which it is based. It packs 239bhp and 221lb ft from a single rear-mounted motor for a 0-62mph time of 4.5sec and a top speed of 155mph. 

"No gearbox was available in-house" to suit Alpine's performance aspirations, so it has worked with supplier Getrag to adapt the petrol A110's dual-clutch automatic ’box for the new electric powertrain. It says this arrangement "makes it possible to avoid a break in torque while remaining compact and light". 

4 Alpine a110 e ternite electric 2023 interior closeup

To all intents and purposes – aside from the open roof and the bespoke rear deck – the A110 E-ternité is visually identical to the standard car, inside and out. The cabin keeps its touchscreen, "state of the art" sound system and climate control arrangement. 

The roof panel itself was designed and fabricated in-house and is partially constructed using recycled carbon for optimal rigidity and weight, while boosting sustainability credentials. A second prototype features various body panels constructed using flax, which, Alpine says, is as strong as carbonfibre but has better acoustic properties.

Alpine has not disclosed how much money or time went into the project but has said the prevailing goal was "to electrify the next Alpine vehicles, and why not starting by the A110, a paragon of sportiness known for its light weight and agility, within a realistic budget". 

Felix Page

Felix Page
Title: Deputy editor

Felix is Autocar's deputy editor, responsible for leading the brand's agenda-shaping coverage across all facets of the global automotive industry - both in print and online.

He has interviewed the most powerful and widely respected people in motoring, covered the reveals and launches of today's most important cars, and broken some of the biggest automotive stories of the last few years. 

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gussy51 23 July 2022
Sounds promising. As others have said the weight/range suggested sounds like a decent start for the near future, and hopefully weight can be cut further and range increased with future battery development. My hope is that this and any future Lotus jointly developed with it can keep properly compact dimensions and a low seating position - in particular I want them to keep the car narrow so it's better to drive on both b roads and in town
si73 21 July 2022
Whilst this is only a prototype, I think if it achieves that range /performance balance at that weight, it's a winner, the roof is cool as well.
rlaw22 21 July 2022

I think you are confusing the word "convertible" with the words "has a sunroof".

si73 21 July 2022
Looks bigger than a traditional sunroof, looks closer to what I had on my 924 which was just a removable roof panel, I thought, there wasn't a lot of roof left when removed, so agreed, not a convertible, almost a targa, but a bit more than a sunroof. I loved it in my old Porsche, felt like open top motoring with it out.
bol 21 July 2022
rlaw22 wrote:

I think you are confusing the word "convertible" with the words "has a sunroof".

Apparently a big sunroof is now a "drop top". Perhaps it refers to what happens when you fumble removing it and drop it, corner first, onto the tarmac, rendering it impossible to refit. 

artill 22 July 2022
rlaw22 wrote:

I think you are confusing the word "convertible" with the words "has a sunroof".

Its not a very good sunroof. Its more that it has a hole in the roof. The bit they removed wont go back at the touch of a button when it rains, and i do wonder if it even fits in the car, i didnt see any mention of it.

I hope its a much better sports car than it is a convertible