Speak about electric vehicles(EVs) and one brand will come up…. Audi! We’re kidding… It is Tesla that will be thrown around!
Indeed, Tesla has been known for offering electric cars for quite some time now. And though we love Elon, we’ve always felt like something was somehow missing in his cars. It may be the very minimalistic interior that made us feel that. Anyways, already back then during Geneva International Motor Show we were talking about how thrilled we were to finally see other fully electric cars that would come shake the market.
So we were definitely pleased when Audi announced its first fully electric vehicle. This car, ladies and gentlemen, is the e-tron! And trust us when we say that we weren’t disappointed at all. The heads turning on the streets testified to the buzz the car creates. Most people were shocked to see a normal Audi with no roar of a combustion engine! Here’s the beauty: Audi managed to keep its full DNA and injected with brio a full-electric ecosystem in it.
Audi e-tron, Lake Léman, La Tour-de-Peilz (VD), Switzerland. ©LeCircles
The premium SUV boasts a 95kWh battery with two electric engines on both axles with a combined power of 300 kW and instant torque of 664 Nm. This enables the car to accelerate 0-100km in 5.7 seconds! Keep in mind that this is a full real Quattro (4-wheel drive). What about the range? Well it has a surprising 328km/204miles range and that is without regenerative breaking. Indeed, given that with it — it’s possible to load 30 percent of the battery. Let’s face it… for all of us it’s really trivial to be autonomous and not have to worry about an empty battery. Well, we were never stuck — turns out that we easily travelled everywhere we needed to go. We even managed to make it smoothly to Germany!
Of course it demands some minimum of planning but everything was made easier when the navigation system and the onboard computer gave us all accessible charging stations at our disposal. Futhermore, an important spec is that the e-tron is so far the only EV equipped with 150-kWh charging capabilities enabling it to charge 80 percent of its battery in half an hour. Trust us on this — it is truly a game changer.
Audi e-tron Frontgrill With Matrix LED Lights, Lake Léman, La Tour-de-Peilz (VD), Switzerland. ©LeCircles
Don’t be fooled and try to charge it at a Tesla Supercharging station though… Actually why would you? You could rather go to either an Amazon high-power-charging(HPC) in the U.S. or a IONITY (HPC) station in Europe — gifting you with the fast charging of 30min for 80 percent of the battery — independent of how many cars are charging simultaneously! But once again please don't take this as a Tesla vs Audi match but rather as an opportunity to broaden your choice when thinking of an electric car made by a well-established automobile manufacturer. Because while we are waiting for an all-electric Urus or Cayenne — to us the bet that Audi took is rather a very successful one!
Indeed, we love the Audi e-tron! The driving sensations, the fact that onboard it still feels like an Audi, the high end specs in the car and its perfect size for a SUV — all make us say that the ‘Premium electrification has truly gone Audi’. The minor detail we didn’t like is the hole in the central console. I guess we will get over it given that this is to our eyes the sole esthetic flaw.
If you’re looking for your next all-electric SUV and have a certain taste since you’re here — you’ve found it and it’s called: Audi e-tron.
Oh yeah….about those numbers you find on the back of some Audis like the “55” for the e-tron we’ll lift a burden for you — these are Audi’s new engine grading system in order to accurately compare combustion engines and their hybrid/all-electric and natural gas counterparts.
Thank us later for this!
Audi e-tron’s Customizable Virtual Cockpit With MMi System (left: Battery gauge with Boost and Regenerative Breaking mode; center: infotainment here linked via Careplay; right: Speed gauge), Highway CH-Germany, Switzerland. ©LeCircles
Ionity High-Power-Charging(HPC) Station (up to 350kW) with Audi e-tron charging, Grauholz Interstate Rest Area, Bern (BE), Switzerland. ©LeCircles
Ionity High-Power-Charging(HPC) Station (up to 350kW) Screen, Grauholz Interstate Rest Area, Bern (BE), Switzerland. ©LeCircles
Ionity High-Power-Charging(HPC) Station (up to 350kW) Audi e-tron Fully Charged Green Light, Grauholz Interstate Rest Area, Bern (BE), Switzerland. ©LeCircles
Audi e-tron, Lavorama , St-Saphorin (VD), Switzerland. ©LeCircles
Audi e-tron, Lavorama , St-Saphorin (VD), Switzerland. ©LeCircles
Audi e-tron 55 Quattro (Engine Power & Audi’s 4-wheel drive) , Lavorama, La Tour-de-Peilz (VD), Switzerland. ©LeCircles