yeamac

The e-tron can charge at 150 kW from 0-80% battery. Other EV's can peak higher than that, but do so around 40% battery level. Their charging curve is such that at 10% battery and 70% battery they are only charging at 100 kW, meaning overall the e-tron will be faster.

The problem that affects all EV's is that often the L3 chargers themselves, be it EVgo, Electrify America, ChargePoint, etc, do not run at full rated speed. Electrify America is particularly bad at this. As the chargers have aged a few years, many are "derated," meaning a 150kW or 350kW charger may only charge at 60 or 80 kW. It's truly maddening to expect to be in and out of a charger in 20 minutes only to have to spend 40+ minutes charging your vehicle, simply because the charger isn't working right and the company cannot/will not fix their faulty chargers. Sometimes isn't not so bad. A 350kW charger may charge your e-tron at 123 kW. Why they don't run at the e-tron's max 150 kW all the time I don't understand it. They can run at/near that, and my first year of ownership in 2021 I saw max charging often. Now most chargers around me are derated. Perhaps that will change if EA gets off their butts and fixes their equipment. But a new installation in a city in my state on a route I take, out of the 6 chargers, Plugshare users report only 1 is giving full speed. Terrible.

Keep in mind that for most EV drivers you charge at home/work on a level 2 charger (6 or 9 kW) and rarely need to use these level 3 (L3) chargers. Yes, it takes substantially longer, how long depends how much you are driving in a day. Some days I only drive 8 miles, so only need to replace a small portion of my battery. Home charging can take from 30 minutes to 7 hours, depending on how much battery I used during the day. But you simply set a timer for the morning, I set it to end at 7 AM, and then simply plug in when you get home and the EV is charged and ready to go in the morning.

So in theory, yes, it really is about 22.5 minutes to get to 80% from a battery starting at around 15-20% battery, if the L3 charger is working correctly and is rated for 150+ kW (some L3 chargers are only 50 kW/62kW/100kW). The e-tron is capable of consistent 150kW charging, but the charger has to put that out. And other EV's are also affected by the derated chargers and will take longer to charge too. I've noticed on the PlugShare app, my e-tron will almost always give a faster charge than what other users report. When I do use L3 charging, I'll be finished before other EV's who arrived before me, so the e-tron pretty much is one of the fastest charging EV's on the market. But most EV owners, like myself, do 99% of your charging at home on your L2 charger overnight, so the L3 charging mess today isn't that impactful. (some areas of the country might have better charging. But the ones on my routes in the Midwest are abysmal.)

toomanymc

I have a 2019 prestige with 21 inch rims. I’m very happy with it. Car has 50k miles and I can get 200-215 miles on the highway at 70-80mph in efficiency drive mode(but don’t plan for more than 200 miles).

I would not trade it for a new one. The pre refresh models have a basically bulletproof battery. It’s has an amazing charge curve and basically always pulls 150kw no matter what. The 2024 has a higher peak but it falls off quickly so in the real world the older models are actually probably the better road tripper due to faster charging. I’ll take better charging over range anyway because the added range really only helps up until the first charge.

the only case where I think the new one makes more sense is if you don’t have home charging, then the additional range will make a difference

stigshero

No. Tesla Superchargers work.

That’s blunt, but it’s meant to be. Not because your thinking is unreasonable, but because I suspect that such reasonable expectations not being met has driven quick turnover and rapid devaluation of these cars. With any non-Tesla EV, count on a full half the chargers you visit having some sort of problem, be it not working at all, or operating at 25% or less of rated capacity. The impact of this can be severe if you’re not in a bluer part of the country where there may be another charging option across the street.

I love the ‘21 Premium Plus I picked up a week ago, but it’s not my first EV and I knew what I was getting into. I take road trips of no more than 200 to 300 miles, maybe three or four times a year. When I do, I pre-plan charging stops in areas where there are multiple DC fast charging options just in case there’s a problem. Even then, I plan for twice the charging time the math on paper would suggest. For the odd longer trip, I’m prepared to drive my wife’s car or fly. For anyone who can live with this approach, the e-tron is, if not the very best, at least among the best options on the market.