The article was originally produced on February 13, 2019, some facts and prices may have changed since then.

Audi e-tron

The electrification of car manufacturers is in full swing and now Audi has unleashed its all-electric e-tron model. An SUV that seriously enters the game to electrify the image world together with Tesla. 

In connection with the WC skiing competitions in Åre, Audi offered a test drive of their brand new model e-tron, which is powered exclusively by electricity. Among the major brands, Audi is the first after Tesla and Jaguar to have a purely electric car of this size that can be compared to its siblings, the Audi Q5 and Q7. The concept for the e-tron was already shown in 2015 at the Frankfurt motor show, then a bit more angular with sharper lines and angles. On the production-ready car, the shapes are softer and not as aggressive. The size of the e-tron measures in at 490 centimeters in length and 194 in width and a height of 162 cm. Thanks to air suspension, the car can be raised and lowered by 7.6 centimeters. 

There is a lot of talk about cW values in the context of consumption these days. This value is a definition of the resistance of a solid body in an air stream. A drop has the perfect cW value but is difficult to achieve for practical reasons with a normally designed car. Already in the 1920s, German technicians experimented with this, e.g. Mercedes and Rumple's Tropfenwagens (tropfen = drop). For the e-tron, this figure lands at 0.28 and to get a perspective of how much this is, you can compare it to the sibling Q8, which has a value of 0.34. What mostly affects this value between the models is the shape of the e-tron, which with a lower grill gives a lower air resistance. Another detail, which the e-tron is among the first cars to roll out on our roads, is the optional virtual exterior mirrors. On the e-tron, there are no conventional rear-view mirrors but cameras on the outside of the car. On a high-resolution screen on the inside of the door on each side, you then see the image from the camera. At first a little unusual, but definitely something you get used to. The design of the holders for the cameras on the outside of the door has also contributed to lower air resistance. 

Since Audi is associated with four-wheel drive, a test drive in snow-covered Åre felt completely logical. The icy roads from the airport in Östersund clearly showed how well the electric four-wheel drive works on the e-tron. The drive takes place on both the rear and front wheels with the help of two asynchronous electric motors. The total power for the e-tron is 408 horses and 660 newton meters. From standstill to 100, the e-tron needs 5.7 seconds and the top speed is limited to 210 hm/h. To really experience the Quattro system, a track had been shoveled down on the ice of Lake Åre. Wide stands around the marked track made the mind forget the fact that it was an electric car and not a steroid-pumped Audi RS model you were driving. The E-tron really offers playful driving with full control. Another thing that also distinguishes the e-tron is the noise level when traveling on normal roads. It is almost completely silent, even with the studded tires that the test cars were equipped with. One of the reasons for this is hollowed-out holes in the undercarriage that can be compared to those found on a golf ball. The result is amazing and you could hear the smallest thing that is normally hidden by the hum of the engine and the noise of the road. 

The big nut when it comes to electric cars is the so-called

the range anxiety. Something you obviously cannot escape with the e-tron. But to reduce this, they have put in the fastest and most powerful charging in a production electric car. 150 kilowatt DC charging means that you should be able to achieve 80 percent charging in just 30 minutes. In normal driving, the e-tron should cover 40 miles on one charge. The number of charging points in Europe increases every day and with the help of a card, which the e-tron owner receives, these charging points are opened so that you can easily pay via an app on the mobile phone.

Apart from Tesla, the range of purely electric cars in this class is narrow, Jaguar has the I-Pace but then there is not much else. Mercedes is closest with its model EQC, which will roll out on the roads in the summer, and after that Porsche will come with its model Taycan. After the days in Åre with the e-tron, I am completely convinced that electric cars will work just as well as those with combustion engines, if not better when it comes to the driving feeling. However, the days did not offer the kind of driving to experience range anxiety and what it means for the e-tron. Here we probably have a lot to get used to, because just jumping into an e-tron and heading off completely unplanned still feels a bit distant. But with a fully charged battery and a little planning, I see no problem with driving an e-tron everyday and in the mountains.