BERLIN, June 23 (Reuters) - Audi plans to bring only electric-powered vehicles onto the market from 2026, Chief Executive Markus Duesmann told the Wirtschaftswoche weekly in an interview published on Thursday.

Audi is committed to transitioning into an all-electric brand by 2026, and seeing the onslaught on the EV market, we have no doubts it will be able to accomplish its mission. The company has tens of electric products in the pipeline, some of them being wild concepts like the electric Dakar Rally car, the AI:Trail Concept, and the Artemis Project. There are even some slightly realistic concepts like the Skysphere, Grandsphere, and the Urbansphere that will probably take shape at some point. While all these are future products, Audi has a full-fledged arsenal in the form of the E-Tron lineup that is currently catering to the customer’s EV needs. The company has many E-Tron models on sale and a few in the reckoning. Here’s everything you need to know about Audi’s E-Tron lineup:

Audi's entire offering will be exclusively electric-powered long before 2035, when the European Union plans to effectively ban the sale of combustion engine cars, Duesmann added.

Audi-powered electric rickshaws: Startup gives second life to used e-tron battery packs

Audi's entire offering will be exclusively electric-powered long before 2035, when the European Union plans to effectively ban the sale of combustion engine cars, Duesmann added.

project is to explore the uses of these high-voltage electric car batteries after their car life cycle is complete. The project also aims to create job opportunities, especially for women, in India.

The electric rickshaw is a result of the efforts of a non-profit startup based in Berlin and Bengaluru and funded by Audi Environmental Foundation. Three prototypes of the electric rickshaw have been built under the first-ever project between Audi AG and the Audi Environmental Foundation in addition to Nunam.

Since rickshaw drivers in India travel neither fast nor far, the electric motor does not have to be particularly powerful, also considering that they'll be powered by a high-energy-density battery and have a comparatively low vehicle weight, the company mentions in a press statement.

While electric rickshaws have become a common sight in India, most of them are powered by lead-acid batteries, which have a shorter life and are often not disposed of properly. Plus, all of these three-wheelers are charged primarily through public grid electricity, the majority of which in India is sourced from coal-fired power stations.

Nunam's answer to this is in the form of solar power charging stations. A used Audi e-tron battery will charge over the day and act as a buffer storage unit. And in the evening, the power is passed on to the rickshaws. This, says Audi, will make local rickshaw driving largely carbon-free.

The company states furthermore that after the battery has completed its electric car life cycle and spent its second life in an e-rickshaw, it is not the end of life for it yet. It can still be used to power stationary applications like LED lighting.

“Car batteries are designed to last the life of the car. But even after their initial use in a vehicle, they still have a lot of their power,” Nunam cofounder Prodip Chatterjee explains.

“For vehicles with lower range and power requirements, as well as the lower overall weight, they are extremely promising. In our second-life project, we reuse batteries from electric cars in electric vehicles; you might call it electric mobility ‘lite’. In this way, we’re trying to find out how much power the batteries can still provide in this demanding use case.”