by Audi’s first electric car, the e-tron coupe-crossover, will soon receive a small but significant update: firstly, it will drop in price by $ 9,000 compared to the current basic version, and, secondly, the range will increase by 30 km, to 360 km (according to the American EPA cycle). Of course, we are talking about the Audi e-tron of the 2021 model range.
As you probably already guessed, Audi has announced a new base variant of the e-tron, the price of which in the US will start at $ 65.9 thousand (without any benefits) – this is $ 8.9 thousand below the current starting price of $ 74. 8 thous.
Naturally, there were some casualties. The Audi Matrix adaptive LED headlights are not included in the base model, nor is the Bang & Olufsen audio system. The price of the top-end configuration of the 2021 Audi e-tron in the US will be $ 79.1 thousand.
A number of improvements and optimizations have been made to increase the range per charge, including the ability to periodically (if unnecessary) turn off the electric motor on the front axle to save energy. Also, the 2020 Audi e-tron will be able to use more of the total unit capacity of 95 kWh. More specifically, the usable capacity will increase from 83.6 to 86.5 kWh (in all electric vehicles, part of the available capacity is reserved and blocked in order to increase the battery life). Taken together, these improvements have helped increase the range to 360 km.
Yes, 360 km is better than 330 km. At the same time, against the background of the Tesla Model S performance in the long-range Long Range Plus version with a 100 kWh battery, which has a 402 miles (647 km) range according to the American EPA measuring cycle, the result of the 2020 Audi e-tron is not impressive.
Tesla Model S is the world’s first electric vehicle with a range of over 400 miles (almost 650 km) on the EPA cycle
Given such a large gap, the recent admission by the head of Audi of technical lag behind Tesla is not at all surprising.
But the good news is that such improvements are happening more and more often. Jaguar announced a similar increase for the I-Pace at the end of 2019, increasing the range from 377 km to 396 km. Even the Chevy Bolt got an increase in the range – from 383 km to 417 km. True, the release of the updated Chevy Bolt has been delayed until 2021.
In the near future Audi plans to release two more compact and more affordable crossovers E-Tron Q4 on the modular platform VW MEB of the parent Volkswagen concern.
Source: Audi and The Verge
