Audi’s Electrification
11/02/2021
Audi have produced some of the finest ‘driver’s cars’ of all
time, and some of the most brutish – think Group B rally cars of the 80s, an
almost ‘anything goes’ goes formula, with over 500hp. The cars were considered
so fast (and therefore, dangerous) that Group B rallying was banned in just
four short years. It’s interesting to note that Audi dominated the Group B
scene.
Today, things are a little different. We live in a world
that’s thinking about the future, we want to sustain the planet’s resources, rather
than shred them with 550+ horsepower 4WD monsters that drink fuel faster than
an F1 car with a habit. What made Audi a rallying giant, now gives them the
ability to help save the planet: Vorsprung durch Technik, roughly translated as
‘Keeping ahead through technology’.
Audi e-tron
e-tron refers to Audi’s range of all electric vehicles, no
fossil fuel here.
Electric power has been a blessing for manufacturers like
Audi – it gives near instant acceleration, with a throttle response that
internal combustion can only dream of, even with the very latest and greatest
fuel injection systems.
Power levels can easily surpass horsepower from traditional
engines, it’s clean, reliable, and sustainable, and with a little planning,
unbeatable for most applications and journeys. Certainly, if you speak to the
un-initiated, they’ll throw ‘range anxiety’ around, but let’s be honest, that’s
changing on an almost daily basis.
e-tron Range from Audi
Currently, Audi offer two full-electric vehicles, although
more are in the pipeline, and one of those is the
e-tron GT Prototype, the car
that electricity was invented for. It is stunning.
The e-tron is Audi’s first step into the BEV (Battery
Electric Vehicle) market, and rather than go all radical to show what they can
do, they’ve kept it ‘normal’ – it’s appealing to the electric car buyers that
still haven’t quite made that jump to the next generation of motoring.
Following up from the regular e-tron, is the e-tron
Sportback, which although similar, is slightly more sporting (as the name
suggests), and has more of a styled look to it – this is Audi’s answer to the
Jaguar I-PACE; it’s different, but not radically so.
e-tron Specs
Essentially, there are three different motor specifications,
e-tron 50, e-tron 55, and the e-tron S, these range from 309hp right through to
496hp, with a maximum range of 252 miles, and you can recharge 80% in around
thirty minutes, which is industry standard now.
As you’d expect, there’s no shortage of equipment and technology
either – there’s an option for virtual door mirrors, which replace the
traditional glass ‘wing’ mirrors with a camera and screen. If you spec that
system, you’ll have five different screens in the cockpit – two for mirrors,
two in the centre console, and of course, the Audi Virtual Cockpit screen.
That doesn’t mean to say that you’ll be overwhelmed with
digital information, or confused with the information at your fingertips,
remember, the e-tron has been designed to be as close to ‘traditional’ motoring
as an electric SUV can be.
The systems are intuitive, the information (unless you go
looking for it) displayed is the information you need, it’s not there to
showcase Audi’s electronic brilliance, so there’s nothing to fear.
e-tron Driving
As we say, Audi have taken the decision to try and make this
as user-friendly, and UNradical as possible, but at the same time, they’ve
included some neat touches, such as a charging port on either side of the
vehicle (why more manufacturers don’t do that, we just don’t know).
There are onboard systems to help maximise range, or to give
you some extra ground clearance when the roads disappear, but the truth is,
staying in full auto mode with the systems will work for you 99% of the time.
This is the SUV that’s been designed to drive, and feel like
any other regular SUV, only powered by electricity. The best of both worlds?
If you’d like to see for yourself just how … normal … the
e-tron range of cars can be, then contact one of our friendly team to make
arrangements.
