- The e-tron is Audi's first all-electric vehicle which is a Q5 sized crossover.
- Promises a range of 400 kilometres from its 95kWh battery pack.
- Will rival the Mercedes-Benz EQC and Jaguar iPace.
Audi has officially taken the wraps off the e-tron all-electric crossover at a special event in San Francisco. The e-tron is the first electric vehicle from Four Rings and it comes as a mid-sized premium SUV from Ingolstadt.
First showcased at 2018 Geneva Motor Show in the concept guise, the e-tron looks like yet another member of Audi’s Q family. The e-tron is almost similar to the new-gen Q5 in terms of dimensions. The proportions and styling are unmistakably that of an Audi with a massive grille up front and Q3-like headlights. The rear takes inspiration from the new flagship, the Q8, with a raked D-pillar and LED panel of taillights running across the tailgate. One new feature is the mirrors, which are sleek camera units instead of conventional ORVMs. Audi claims that the E-Tron prototype has an aerodynamic drag coefficient of 0.28, which is the lowest for any SUV till date.
On the inside, the cabin gets five screens in total which include a centre mounted infotainment unit, the Virtual Cockpit all-digital screen, a touchscreen which is mounted lower on the centre console for the climate control settings. And apart from these, the two A-pillar mounted screens project the camera images and act as a virtual ORVM. The rest of the layout is similar to the one seen in the new crop of Audis.
Powering the e-tron are two asynchronous batteries on each axle, producing a combined output of 265kW (355bhp) and 561Nm in the normal mode. The electric SUV can accelerate from a standstill to the electrically limited top speed of 200kmph several times consecutively without loss of power. In the boost mode, the output is increased to 300kW (400bhp) and 664Nm.
The 95kWh battery pack is the biggest size of battery available in the automotive industry these days and the only other car to get the same size battery is Tesla Model S 100D. Audi claims an electric range of 400kilometres which is still under homologation and we can expect a range of almost 450kilometres as well (under the new WLTP cycle). The five-seater EV from Audi can also recover braking energy which was tested at Pikes Peak and resulted in a boost of up to 30 per cent in the driving range.
The E-Tron is amongst the new breed of electric SUVs and it will go up against the Tesla Model X, Jaguar iPace, recently revealed Mercedes-Benz EQC and other upcoming similar products based on the concepts like BMW Vision iNEXT and Skoda Vision E.
