Audi confirms more ‘realistic’ range of ~250 miles for the e-tron quattro, puts car in a Faraday cage

Audi unveiled the e-tron quattro prototype, the company’s first all-electric vehicle built to be electric from the ground up. This was back in 2015 when they were still using the unreliable NEDC standard for the range.

In a press release today, the German automaker confirmed the expected range on the more realistic WLTP driving cycle, which they now claim to be “over 400 kilometers (248.5 miles).”

That’s down from “310 miles” of range that they had been advertising since launching the vehicle concept but we have been correcting it to an estimated ~275 miles on a single charge for an SUV of this size with a 95 kWh battery pack.

Our estimate was closer to the truth, but it still quite far off from the actual WLTP rating, which Audi itself described as “realistic”.

In the same press release, Audi also reaffirmed the 150 kW charging capacity of the vehicle, which will go into production as the Ionity charging network, which supports 150 kW up to 350 kW, will start to grow in Europe over the next two years.

150kW is more than the 120-135kW Tesla Superchargers do currently but it wouldn’t be surprising to see Tesla up its game before the e-tron hits the actual streets.

For the occasion, they illustrated the “lightning fast” charging by bringing the car to the Siemens high-voltage test bay in the Berlin switchgear plant and hitting the car with lightning in a Faraday cage:

In addition to the already announced DC fast-charging capacity, the press release talked in more detail about the vehicle’s home charging capacity:

Audi offers various solutions for charging at home. If desired, an electrician referred by the local Audi dealer will check which charging options are available in the customer’s garage and install the corresponding technology. The standard mobile charging system can be used in two ways: with a charging power of up to 2.3 kW when connected to a 230 volt household outlet and with up to 11 kW when connected to a 400 volt three-phase outlet. In the latter case, the battery can be fully recharged in roughly 8.5 hours. With the optional connect charging system, charging power doubles to 22 kW provided that the electric SUV is equipped with the required second charger.

All the charging options can also be monitored through Audi’s mobile application.

The car is set to enter production at Audi’s carbon-neutral plant in Brussels in the next few months in order for deliveries to start in European markets at “the end of 2018.”

Last month, Audi said that the all-electric e-tron Quattro SUV will be ‘starting at ‘€80,000’ in Germany -(~€67,000 before VAT – or ~$83,000 USD).

Electrek’s Take

I am curious to see what the actual EPA rating will be, but if the ~250 miles (400 km) is reliable, that’s pretty good – although I would have expected a little more out of an SUV of this size with a 95 kWh pack.

I love how people accused me of intentionally being harsh on Audi because of my bias for Tesla when I estimated a range of ~275 miles:

When in fact, I was actually being generous and Audi now admits that ~250 miles of range is actually “realistic.”

On the contrary, there’s no Tesla bias affecting my excitement for the e-tron quattro.

If it indeed launches later this year with 150 kW of charging capacity, it will likely become the fastest charging passenger electric car on the market and that’s pushing the whole EV market forward.

There are only things to get excited about for the launch of the e-tron quattro.