A long way to go to drive a car

We’ve driven Audi’s first proper electric car, the 2019 e-tron SUV

A competent SUV that feels familiar, and be glad we don’t get those mirrors.

Jonathan M. Gitlin – Dec 7, 2018 12:00 pm | 407

Credit: Jonathan Gitlin

Because Audi was only offering e-tron drives in Abu Dhabi, we elected to accept paid flights and two nights in a hotel in order to attend this event, rather than having to wait at least six months to drive the vehicle.

In the wake of its emissions scandal, Volkswagen Group has been on a mission to reinvent itself. After staking its reputation on diesel, the German automaker has conducted a volte face; electricity is now the future. It’s spending billions on developing new battery electric vehicle platforms, billions building a US network of high-speed chargers, and has committed billions more to lock up battery supplies. And now, finally, the first of these efforts has begun to bear fruit.

Behold, the first—but definitely not the last—battery electric vehicle from VW Group. One that has been designed from the ground up to be powered by electrons: the Audi e-tron. We got our first good look at a flashy launch event in San Francisco this past September, and now we’ve finally had a chance to drive it. After 24 hours on plane after plane, we put the e-tron through its paces on and off the roads. Along the way, we confirmed some of our preconceptions about this new BEV and busted others.

There’s no denying this electric SUV is clever, as is the way it has been positioned in the market. As with any electric car, it won’t be for everyone. And boy was I wrong about what many of us thought would be the car’s coolest new technology. Here’s what we learned.

Under the skin, it’s an Audi

Every few months it seems like I’m writing about yet another new electric VW named I.D. something-or-other that uses VW Group’s new MEB electric vehicle architecture. Forget all about MEB when it comes to the e-tron, because MEB is for smaller vehicles. Within the corporate behemoth that is the VW Group, Audi is taking the lead for larger electric vehicles (like this one and Porsche’s soon-to-arrive Taycan sedan), and for now it will use a modified version of the same MLB Evo vehicle architecture that provides the building blocks for cars and SUVs like the A8, Q7, Panamera, and so on.

All the suspension pickup points are the same as any other MLB Evo vehicle, as is the internal electronic architecture (infotainment as well as driver assists) and the climate control system. But obviously there are some differences. Instead of an internal combustion engine, each axle sports its own asynchronous electric motor, each of which features a cooling lance running through it. At the front, this is parallel to the axle, but forget about a massively roomy “frunk”; much of the space under the hood is taken up by the cooling system, power electronics, and onboard AC charger. At the rear, the motor is coaxially mounted for better packaging and 50:50 weight distribution.

Total power and torque output is 355hp (265kW) and 413lb-ft (561Nm) in normal conditions, which can increase to 402hp (300kW) and 490lb-ft (664Nm) for short bursts—about eight seconds—when the e-tron is in its sportiest setting. (The front motor is rated at 168hp at 182lb-ft (125kW at 247Nm), boosted to 181hp and 228lb-ft (135kW and 309Nm), the rear normally provides 188hp (140kW) at 232lb-ft (314Nm) but can boost to 221hp (165kW) and 262ft-lbs (355Nm)).

The battery positioning follows standard BEV protocol and is located between the axles and underneath the passenger compartment. It’s built up like a sandwich, starting at the bottom with a 3.5mm aluminum protection plate. Next is the liquid cooling system, then a housing tray, and on top of that the cell modules—36 in all. Each module contains 12 flexible 60Ah cell pouches, and individual modules can be replaced if necessary. A very sturdy battery frame surrounds the modules and battery pack to provide crash protection.

Above the cells is another aluminum cover, then the battery junction box at the front, and another set of three more battery modules at the rear. The battery is rated at 95kWh with a nominal voltage of 396V. That gives the e-tron a WLTP-determined range of 248.5 miles (400km), although Audi is still waiting for the more accurate EPA rating to be determined. The pack is warrantied for eight years or 100,000 miles, and Audi says it is guaranteed to maintain at least 70 percent of its capacity at the eight-year mark.

The looks won’t scare anyone

When Audi set out to make its first proper BEV, the goal was first and foremost for it to fit into the lineup without scaring anyone off. So forget the highly aerodynamic “bar of soap” look of a Tesla or the futuristic approach Jaguar took with the I-Pace; squint and the e-tron could be a Q8. It has been positioned in the market as such, too; a five-seat SUV—critical for US sales—that’s a segment size smaller than the seven-seat Tesla Model X and, similarly, a segment size larger than either the I-Pace or Mercedes-Benz’ EQC.

To get specific, the e-tron is 193 inches (4,901mm) long, 76 inches (1,935mm) wide, and 64 inches (1,616mm) high, with a 115-inch (2,928mm) wheelbase. A Model X is 198 inches (5,037mm) long, 79 inches (1,999mm) wide, 66 inches (1,676mm) tall, and has a 117-inch (2,964mm) wheelbase, and an I-Pace measures 184 inches (4,682mm) long, 79 inches (2,011mm) wide, 61 inches (1,565mm) tall, with a 118-inch (2,990mm) wheelbase.

The design is more aerodynamic than your usual Audi SUV fare, though. There’s an air curtain at the front to channel air down the sides and away from the turbulent chaotic mess that normally happens when rotating wheels meet the airflow. The wheel designs are aero-optimized. The front air intake inside the corporate Audi grill is an active design that can close for better aero efficiency when needed. Under the vehicle there are splitters ahead of the front wheels, a dimpled underbody cover beneath the battery, front and rear underbody spoilers, and rear-axle Gurney flaps. The most noticeable concession to cutting drag are those side view cameras—you know, the ones we won’t get here in the US. But more of those later. Overall, this gives the e-tron a drag coefficient (Cd) of 0.27, or 0.28 in US-spec with conventional reflective side mirrors.

On the inside, everything is as you’d expect from an Audi, which means top-notch craftsmanship and a restrained elegance. The seats are comfortable, and the black panel dash hides the two-screen infotainment system when it’s turned off. It’s the latest version of MMI, and while it remains (in our opinion) the best infotainment system on the market, if I’m being completely honest I think Audi has gone for too light a font (i.e. how thick the lines are on each character). I’m sure that UI decision was made as a result of switching to higher resolution screens. The top screen is where most of the infotainment functions live, a 10.1-inch, 1,540×720 pixel touchscreen. Below it is an 8.6-inch, 1,280×660 touchscreen that is the permanent home of the climate settings. Both screens also feature haptic feedback, which should allow e-tron owners to develop some muscle memory for eyes-off operation.

Ahead of the driver is a third digital display, the latest evolution of Audi’s Virtual Cockpit tech. Again, this remains my favorite implementation of a digital instrument display—so far only Audi seems to be thinking outside of the rectangular box to fill the entire binnacle.

On the road, off the road, BEVing about

Now, none of the technical info I’ve detailed above is new; we found almost all of it out at the e-tron’s unveiling back in San Francisco in September. No, the reason I spent 24 hours in transit was to spend some time behind the wheel and on the move in this new BEV. And that’s something that US consumers will have to wait until Q2 2019 to do. (EU deliveries start in Q1 2019.) Well—and this might not come as a surprise by this point—it drives like an Audi SUV.

We spent the day crossing the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, starting off in the zero-carbon development of Masdar City—cool architecture, sustainable construction, hundreds of megawatts of solar power, and two friendly alley cats—before heading out into the desert to climb the twisty road of Jebel Hafeet, try some light off-roading in Al Ain, then back across the desert in time for Abu Dhabi’s rush hour traffic jam. Audi said it wanted any existing Audi owner to feel familiar behind the wheel of the e-tron, and so they would; if it wasn’t for the lack of any engine noise you might be hard pressed at first to know you were in a BEV.

It’s definitely no speed demon. The dash from zero to sixty takes 5.7 seconds when the car is in its normal drive mode, and it tops out at a limited 125mph (200km/h). Thanks to that low BEV center of gravity, there’s little body roll in the corners, but it’s not particularly exciting to drive in the twisty bits in the way an I-Pace would be, which may explain why our drive route did not involve any laps of the Yas Marina circuit…

There is a clever new traction control system—coming next to all future Audis—which constantly determines slip at each of the four wheels at 10kHz, pulling information from the car’s various assortment of sensors. The e-tron’s brain can also just use the front or rear motor should traction conditions require it.

As my colleague Megan Geuss found out earlier this year, Audi’s engineers spent a lot of time and effort on maximizing the amount of energy the vehicle can regenerate under deceleration. Up to 70 percent—or 220kW and 300Nm in real numbers. More of this happens at the rear motor, since it has a higher power and torque rating (and an electric motor in reverse is a generator, remember). When you first fire up the e-tron, it’s in the lowest regen setting, which allows you to coast when not on the accelerator pedal. And I found it coasted extremely well on the flat, well-surfaced highways we drove on.

You use the left steering wheel paddle—the one that would shift down a gear in an internal combustion vehicle—to increase the regen setting through two more levels, increasing the amount of deceleration that occurs when you lift your foot off the accelerator. (The right paddle drops you back down through these settings.) Using the brake pedal also slows you via regenerative braking, in this case by up to 0.3G. Backing up the regen are some hefty friction brake discs, six-piston 14.8-inch (375mm) ones at the front and single-piston, 13.8-inch (350mm) at the rear. The transition between regen and friction braking was not discernible from the driver’s seat.

Off-road, the e-tron acquitted itself well. It wasn’t as stern a test as we put the I-Pace through earlier this year, but we still managed to drive over the kind of terrain that I doubt any actual e-tron will ever encounter. Suffice to say, if you need to park it on the grass at your kids’ sports day, you should have no issues even on low-rolling-resistance tires.

Thank your lucky stars NHTSA won’t allow those virtual mirrors

Back in September, I lamented the fact that, unlike Prince Akeem, the e-tron’s flashiest feature wouldn’t be coming to America. I am of course referring to the side-view cameras that replace the conventional side mirrors. It’s an idea we’ve now seen on more concept cars than we can count, and with good reason. Normal mirrors create excess drag, and that affects range, the big bugaboo when it comes to BEVs. Plus they’re a source of noise on the move, all the more noticeable when there’s no engine noise fighting for your attention.

If it were up to the designers, we’d ditch the side mirrors all together, but the e-tron is the first production car to actually take that leap. Instead of two slivers of reflective silver-and-glass, the e-tron uses a pair of always-on 1,280×800 pixel OLED screens embedded in the door panels. These are fed by the wide-angle cameras that show you what’s on either side, overlaying blind spot warnings when necessary.

Or at least they do if you buy one outside of North America. Because, here in the US, they are verboten, falling outside of what’s allowed in the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards, that labyrinthine book of rules and regulations that govern what you can and cannot have on a production car. Well, I’m here to tell you to thank your lucky stars that’s the case, because this is a technology that’s much better in concept than execution. Even on maximum brightness, the screens are too dark, particularly if you happen to be wearing sunglasses.

But that’s a minor point compared to their placement, which is far enough outside of where your brain expects to look to get that information that even after all day in the e-tron none of us were comfortable with the idea. It’s less bad on the passenger side, but checking the driver’s side screen required taking your eyes down and away from the road in a way that a conventional side-view mirror doesn’t. I won’t labor the point beyond suggesting the boffins clearly have some work to do if they want to make the idea natural enough for anyone used to any other car on the road.

How far will it go, how much will it cost, and should I buy one?

As mentioned earlier, we’re still waiting for an official EPA range estimate for the e-tron, which will surely be greater than 200 miles but less than the optimistic WLTP testing scheme used in the EU that figured the vehicle at 248 miles. Here in the US, you’ll have three ways of charging your e-tron. Connected to a normal 110v outlet, a full charge would take about 80 hours. With a level 2 (240V/40, 9.6kW AC) charger—which Audi has partnered with Amazon to provide and install—a full charge should take about nine hours. (Because Europeans get three-phase power, their e-trons can suck in up to 22kW from an optional upgraded onboard AC charger.)

Finally, with a 150kW DC fast charger, 30 minutes should take you up to 80 percent. For context, that should add about 160 miles of range; Tesla quotes a Model X as getting 144.5 miles of range after 30 minutes on a 120kW SuperCharger, and Jaguar says that an I-Pace will add 144 miles after 30 minutes on a 100kW charger. Following a lunchtime recharging, the e-tron covered 127 miles (204.5km) with an average energy consumption of 2.1 miles/kWh (29.8kWh/100km), and that was with the AC and seat coolers running to combat the 86˚F (30˚C) temps and 70 percent humidity outside.

Here in the US those 150kW chargers are starting to appear, thanks to VW Group’s settlement with the US government over that diesel thing. No, it’s not going to be as big a network as Tesla’s, but e-tron owners can feel smug about the fact that their BEVs will at least be sucking down more electrons in less time than an Elonmobile. But let me be direct about this: even with the rollout of the Electrify America network, if you’re looking for a BEV for long road trips, just buy that Tesla Model X 75D. (At $140,000 the P100D Model X is just about double the price, so should not be considered a competitor for this BEV.) And if you want to do laps of your local race track, you’ll want to head on over to the Jaguar dealership and ask for an I-Pace, because that remains the best-handling BEV we’ve tried to date. (Tesla, you’re always welcome to prove the Model 3 out-handles the Jag by lending us one for a few days…)

On the other hand, if this is going to be the second vehicle in a two-car family, one that spends its life taking kids to the school, running chores, and commuting less than 200 miles a day, it should cope perfectly. It only seats five, but you do get a useful amount of cargo space, at 23.3 cubic feet (660L) with the back seats in use, or 60.9 cubic feet (1,725L) with them folded flat. Under the hood there’s an additional 2.1 cubic feet (60L) of cargo space, sufficient for a briefcase, or more usefully a charging cable. And you can tow up to 3,968lbs (1,800kg).

Thanks to plenty of sound insulation—which together with the battery pack contributes to a pretty chunky 5,489lb (2,490kg) curb weight—it’s one of the more pleasant places you can sit if you’re going to spend an hour in traffic, and Audi’s traffic jam assist feature takes a bit more pain out of the stop-and-go drudgery. The base price in the US is $74,500, before any federal or state incentives, and the standard equipment list is generous enough that it should be competitive against the similarly sized Audi Q8. The e-tron should also be cheaper to run, because electricity costs less than gas.

After reading all of this, I hope it’s clear that the Audi e-tron is certainly competent and will not be alien or unfamiliar to anyone who’s a fan of the brand’s other SUVs. It’s not a car for everyone, but it’s not trying to be. With a production capacity of 200 a day at the factory in Belgium, I’m pretty sure Audi will be able to sell every one it builds—it had no problem finding buyers for the 999 First Edition US-market vehicles in just one hour, after all. Which I think we can all agree is probably a good thing, if the goal is more BEVs on the road and fewer carbon emissions in the atmosphere.

Listing image: Jonathan Gitlin

Jonathan M. Gitlin Automotive Editor

Jonathan is the Automotive Editor at Ars Technica. He has a BSc and PhD in Pharmacology. In 2014 he decided to indulge his lifelong passion for the car by leaving the National Human Genome Research Institute and launching Ars Technica's automotive coverage. He lives in Washington, DC.

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