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Audi’s electrified push starts
gaining power
E-Tronathon
E-Tron, E-Tron GT, Q3
E-TronON SALE:
E-Tron: Now
E-Tron GT: Late 2020 (est)
Q3: Now
BASE PRICE:
E-Tron: $74,800
E-Tron GT: $70,000 (est)
Q3: $35,695Things are about to get very,
very interesting in the electric
vehicle space. The choices
are multiplying rapidly. The
competition will be fierce. And
the future is far from assured.
Audi, for one, has made it
quite clear that, come what
may, it’s charging ahead (pun
intended) into the electrified
fray. When your longtime
mantra roughly translates
to “being ahead through
technology” (aka Vorsprung
durch Technik), it’s probably a
good idea to at least be in the
thick of the electric revolution.
It’s also not a bad thing
to make your first true
production EV a crossover
given where the market is
today, as Audi has done with
its 2019 E-Tron that’s been
rolling into U.S. dealerships
at slightly less than $75,000
to start. In fact, you’re really
going to need to know yourAudis in order to discern
whether the E-Tron isn’t
just another fancy Q-badged
model from the outside. Get
behind the wheel, though,
and you’ll know it from the
second you hit the go pedal
and 414 lb-ft of torque greets
you from 0 rpm, thanks to a
95-kW-hr battery pack feeding
125-kW front and 140-kW
rear motors. With 355 peak
horsepower on tap, Audi says
the E-Tron can motor to 60
mph in 5.5 seconds. We hear
a performance version of the
E-Tron is on the way soon,
which will no doubt be even
faster and more agile.
Range for the midsize
crossover checks in at an
EPA-estimated 204 miles to
a charge, which isn’t class
leading, but Audi claims the
E-Tron can gain as much as 54
miles of range in 10 minutes
when connected to a 150-kW