German luxury car maker Audi finally unveiled during a special event on Monday its new electric sport utility vehicle (SUV), the first of its kind from the company, right in the backyard of its rival Tesla, in the United States.
According to Reuters, the new Audi all-electric SUV called the E-Tron. The mid-sized vehicle is slated to arrive in US display centers by 2019 with a starting price of USD$75,795, that is before the tax deductibles of USD$7,500.
Aside from Audi, analysts and watchers of the growing EV industry have been closely setting their eyes on 2018 as the year when countless luxury EVs hit the market.
Before E-Tron, German brands like Mercedes-Benz pulled the curtain apart earlier this September to announce the coming of its own electric SUV, the Mercedes-Benz EQC - the car touted to take Tesla head on.
Moreover, Jaguar Land Rover and BMW were among the other manufacturers who are reportedly making known to the public its plans to take part in the EV race, according to Wired.
Impressive Specs
Speaking of the car's specifications, Audi's latest car offering starts off with an impressive set of specs, at least on paper. As detailed by Wired, the E-tron sports a 95-kWh battery, edging more against the EQC with its 80-kWh battery capacity and the Jaguar I-Pace's 90.
However, E-tron lags behind by a mere cost of a second against the EQC and I-Pace. This is when referring to the zero to sixty mph rate, to which the Audi car can achieve by six seconds as compared to the two aforementioned brands where both can do it in less than five.
Under the hood, E-tron wields dual asynchronous motors which produce 355 horsepower, based on Euro-spec, and 413 pound-feet of torque. Final US-scale measurements are yet to be released.
Ease of Use
On the user's end, Audi claimed that the E-tron is the first EV to support 150-kW DC fast-charging capacity. With this, putting juice into the car at 80 percent should only take under 30 minutes.
Electrify America group, a Volkswagen-funded firm, will install charging stations in the country.
When at home, owners can charge the E-tron through the standard 11-kW charger which could take more than 8 hours to fill the entire battery tank. Better yet, an optional 22-kW onboard charger can cut the charging time in half.
In an interview with Reuters on Monday, Audi America chief Scott Keogh said that the company envisioned Audi to become the number one electric vehicle seller in America.
