Audi e-tron debut info, specs, pictures, range, price

Audi
e-tron
Audi

• Audi e-tron, the first electric SUV from the German
  automaker, debuted in San Francisco on Monday night.
• Two electric motors will power the all-wheel-drive e-tron. A
  95 kWh battery gives it an estimated 248-mile range on a full
  charge.
• The e-tron seats five passengers and its battey can be
  charged up to 80% capacity in about 30 minutes using publicly
  available 150 kWh DC fast-chargers.
• By all appearances, the e-tron is instantly recognizable as a
  modern Audi four-wheeler: stout, muscular, and well-proportioned.
  Nearly all of its functions are controlled from two interior
  touchscreen. It’s also the first new Audi to come equipped with
  Amazon Alexa built in.
• Audi is already taking preorders for the e-tron. Deliveries
  are expected to begin in the second quarter of 2019.

Audi e-tron, the German automaker’s first all-electric SUV is
officially here, in the metal.

The company pulled the covers off the five-passenger,
all-wheel-drive e-tron on Monday night in San Francisco. It marks
the latest evolution in the Audi brand, and also in the fledgling
luxury electric SUV market.

Two electric motors power the e-tron. A 95 kWh battery gives it
an estimated 248-mile range on a full charge based on
European testing. Audi says numbers for the US market are
pending, but anecdotal data, acquired from a handful of US road
trips in the e-tron produced ranges as high roughly 270 miles on
a full charge, according to Audi.

Its battery can be charged up to 80% capacity in about 30 minutes
using publicly available 150 kWh DC fast-chargers.

The range is on par with the e-tron’s closest competitor, the

Tesla Model X, which promises as many as 295 miles of range
on a full charge. 

Jaguar’s I-Pace electric crossover boasts a 220-mile range.

As with all electric vehicles, the battery range is partially
assisted by regenerative braking. When the driver lifts their
foot off of the accelerator pedal, energy that would have gone
toward slowing down the vehicle instead charges the
battery. 

Audi says the e-tron can recapture energy from most types of
braking applications — 90% by Audi’s estimation. The automaker
says a third of the e-tron’s battery range will come from
regeneration.

By all appearances, the e-tron is instantly recognizable as a
modern Audi four-wheeler: stout, muscular, and well-proportioned.
Nearly all of its functions are controlled via two interior
touchscreens. It’s also the first new Audi to come equipped with
Amazon Alexa built in.

The e-tron starts at $74,800. Preorders are already underway. The
first deliveries are expected to land in the second quarter of
2019.