Audi

Audi didn’t end up bringing the production e-tron quattro, which is expected to launch in Europe in just a few months, to the Geneva Auto show. However, the automaker did give us a closer look at its latest prototype and a glimpse at its development program.
Expand
Expanding
Close

Audi is expected to unveil the production version of its first all-electric vehicle built to be electric from the ground up, the Audi e-tron quattro, tomorrow in Geneva.

In the meantime, they brought reportedly over 200 prototypes of the all-electric vehicle to the city and they want people to chase them around.
Expand
Expanding
Close

In order to take on Tesla in the all-electric luxury segment, Audi and Porsche decided to join forces last year and build a new electric vehicle platform from the ground up together.

Now the CEOs of each company discuss their work on the new platform in an interview.
Expand
Expanding
Close

Ionity, the new ‘ultra-fast’ joint electric car charging network by BMW, Mercedes, Ford and Volkswagen, is slowly starting to take shape in Europe and now we get to see the map of their planned stations for the first time.
Expand
Expanding
Close

Ever since Tesla launched its own ‘Tesla Energy’ division to address the energy storage and generation side of the electric vehicle revolution, several automakers have launched similar programs.

Audi becomes the latest with its ‘Smart Energy Network’.
Expand
Expanding
Close

With the imminent launch of the production version of the new e-tron quattro later this year, Audi is opening up reservations with deposits for the vehicle to new markets and it is adding the new all-electric e-tron sportback to the mix.
Expand
Expanding
Close

With the series of electric car concepts unveiled over the last few days at the Frankfurt Motor Show, this new one from Audi caught our attention.

The German automaker claims its new ‘Audi Aicon concept car’ has a record-breaking “700 to 800 kilometers (435.0 – 497.1 mi)” range.
Expand
Expanding
Close

There are a lot of electric cars on the road being powered by solar energy today, but the energy is coming from rooftop residential solar or utility-scale installations.

Some automakers want to have the solar cells directly on the vehicles.

Today, Audi announced its own effort to do just that with new prototypes coming by the end of the year.
Expand
Expanding
Close

Audi’s upcoming all-electric e-tron quattro SUV, which is expected to go into production in 2018, was spotted testing and towing a trailer – giving us a glimpse of the capacity of the vehicle. 
Expand
Expanding
Close

Following the emission test cheating scandal and now allegations that the German automakers created a cartel to deploy their strategy to fake their emission cutting effort, the country’s industry is in a crisis.

A likely winner to come on top of this disastrous situation is the electric car segment. German automakers have been investing in the technology in an attempt to distance themselves from diesel.

In the latest example of that, Audi is reportedly trying to cut gas and diesel R&D by 10 billion euros (~12 billion USD) in order to finance its electric car development.
Expand
Expanding
Close

The first few seasons of the all-electric Formula E championship have been more successful than most motorsport fans would have ever predicted.

Over the past few months, it managed to convince Audi and BMW to take spots for future seasons and this week, Mercedes-Benz has now announced that it will have its own team.

While all those premium automakers are joining the Formula E, Tesla has been surprisingly staying away from the all-electric championship despite being a leader in the development and commercialization of EVs.
Expand
Expanding
Close

Audi has been showing a lot of interest in electric motorsports over the last year – going as far as quitting Le Mans to focus on all-electric Formula E.

They have been increasing their involvement with the ABT Sportsline team and today, they announced that they are officially taking over the team’s slot.
Expand
Expanding
Close

Automakers and battery makers have been quite secretive about their battery costs, which have long been believed to be one of the main barriers to electric car adoption.

It’s why it’s surprising to see Dr. Peter Mertens, Audi’s senior vice-president of research and development, disclosing the cost of the automaker’s batteries for the upcoming new generation of vehicles that they are about to launch. 
Expand
Expanding
Close

While Audi’s electric vehicle effort still mostly only exist in press releases and concepts, it looks like it’s about to move to production in a significant way if we are to believe them.

The German automaker confirmed today that the e-tron Sportback, which they were just teasing Tesla and Elon Musk about in a new billboard ad, will go into production at its Brussels plant in 2019.
Expand
Expanding
Close

Legacy automakers have targeted Tesla in ads before, like BMW’s anti-Model 3 commercials and Nissan’s Leaf ads aimed at Model 3 reservation holders.

Audi is the latest automaker to go after Tesla in its ads – though it appears to be more in an attempt at humor than a targeted effort to mitigate the impact of Model 3 reservations on their sales, like the previous ones from BMW and Nissan.  
Expand
Expanding
Close

There’s nothing more concrete in the electric vehicle revolution than when legacy automakers are converting internal combustion engine production capacity to electric motor production.

Audi seems to understand that as it previews its new electric car factory by saying: “electric motors instead of internal combustion engines, batteries instead of fuel tanks.”
Expand
Expanding
Close

Things on the electric vehicle front are going to become interesting at Audi quite soon.

Their first all-electric vehicle built from the ground up to be electric, Audi e-tron quattro, is coming next year and they already started taking reservations in Norway. They unveiled the e-tron Sportback – pictured above – with ~300 miles of range for production in 2019.

Now they confirm that they plan yet another EV for 2020.
Expand
Expanding
Close

There has been a lot of changes in Tesla’s Autopilot leadership over the past few months and most of it can be linked back to former Autopilot program director Sterling Anderson leaving to form his own startup and Chris Lattner taking over the top role in the program, which happened in December 2016 and January 2017 respectively.

A few more senior Autopilot team members have since left, including the head of Tesla Vision, and we now learn that one of them is now leading an autonomous driving effort for Audi.
Expand
Expanding
Close

Audi has had a very remarkable and successful history in rally racing. In the early eighties, long before Red Bull came around, Audi first introduced their 4WD Quattro system and shattered the competition. Then after a number of successful years, Audi launched one of the most powerful and infamous Group B rally cars, the Audi Sport Quattro S1 . Its combination of a 4WD Quattro system, a turbocharged engine, and a carbon-kevlar body shell meant that these cars literally flew around the rally stages in the most spectacular and dangerous ways. No wings required.

Now Audi will have a go at it again but this time with electric powered rally cars. Attracted by the abundant and instant torque of electric engines, Audi motorsport boss Wolfgang Durheimer has indicated that the prospect of electrified rallycross is a very intriguing one.

Expand
Expanding
Close

Audi is opening reservations for its first production electric vehicle today ahead of the official launch later this year. We have often portrayed the Audi e-tron quattro as the first of a series of upcoming all-electric vehicles from German premium automakers, but it’s finally not only some distant concepts, but an actual all-electric SUV coming to market with Audi’s 2018 model lineup.
Expand
Expanding
Close