Audi’s Sublime E-Tron is an Electric Conundrum
More Than Enough e-tron Punch for Most Motorists
Talking performance, Audi claims e-tron should sprint from zero to a hundred in 5.5 seconds. We basically managed that in our tests. Top speed is electronically limited to a spoilsport 125 mph. To maximize electric range, of course. Like it is on the GT we drove, you can adjust electric energy regeneration via the paddles you’d normally change gears with behind the steering wheel in a piston car. And drive one-pedal. Regen deceleration is strong, so you need not even use the brake pedal.
The Audi e-tron really comes into its own on the road. The most comfortable Audi we’ve driven in ages, the first impression is how effortless this car is to drive. That’s made even more noticeable by an almost eerie silence of operation. You hardly hear the wind, even at elevated speeds. Those e-motors are remarkably quiet and the 5.7-ton e-tron’s 21-inch wheels turn silently, bar a tiny distant tire rumble.
Compliant and supple too, thanks to its air suspension, the compromise is that e-tron quattro may not be the most agile or sporty drive. It’s also not the best of long-distance runners, stymied only by a limited electric range and in our African home market, hobbled by a still wholly inadequate electric charging infrastructure. Don’t even consider recharging on a 120 V household socket, but if you have a home wall box, it will recharge it overnight. 50 kW will top up to 80% in under 90 minutes.
E-tron Has Many Charging Conundrums
It’s better if you have a 150 kW fast-charge point on your regular route. Or at an Audi dealership conveniently sited that indeed has a charger on site. Not all of them do. In Cape Town, South Africa, where we drove it, you must slum it at Canal Walk because the V&A Waterfront dealer has e-trons on the floor but no charge point! The nearby Century City dealer charger will however fill your battery while you roam the adjacent mall. We were gone an hour or so and returned to find the battery 100% charged, from a third.
We found e-tron’s 222-mile. EPA range to be realistic, but you must work it to achieve that and regenerate at any and every opportunity that arises. So, we really wonder where they suck that Euro 270-mile WLTP number from? Still a 200-odd mile driving range hardly quashes range anxiety. Which fear electric rivals like the iX far better avoid. Maybe next generation e-tron batteries will get there, but we are still a long way from good old gas station refueling convenience. And speed. That said, it is much easier in the US, where Audi even provides 250 kWh of complimentary charging via the Electrify America network of cross-country stations to allow you to recharge on long trips or in metro areas.
The Audi e-tron’s other major challenge is price. It hardly straddles the gap between the flagship $43K Audi Q5 quattro S line and the $57K quattro it’s proportions and specification suggest it should. At $65,900, that’s the elephant in the room between making an already compromised and in many cases, still insufficiently supported propulsion source-compatible. Even if the car itself is mighty impressive.
ROAD TESTED: Audi e-tron Motors: 2x electric, 402 HP and 490 lb.-ft combined Drive: Direct AWD Battery: 95 kWh lithium-ion TESTED: 0-40 mph: 2.93 sec 0-60 mph: 5.62 sec 0-75 mph: 8.01 sec 0-100 mph: 14.13 sec ¼ mile: 14.1 sec @ 100 mph 50-75 mph: 3.85 sec 75-100 mph: 6.11 sec CLAIMED: VMax: 125 mph Energy Consumption: 32 kWh/100 miles LIST PRICE $65,900 MSRP RATED: 8
Images Giordano Lupini
