Audi is still going ahead with its plans to bring a ~300 mile electric SUV — by the name of the “Q6” e-tron Quattro — to market in 2018, according to recent reports.
Notably, the production plans for the new model are pretty similar to those of the concept car revealed back in September.
The news is coming to us reportedly from the head of vehicle development at Audi, Dr Rudiger Chmieleswki, so presumably there’s some truth to it.
Here’s more from Autoexpress:
Audi has confirmed its e-tron electric SUV concept will debut as a production ready car in early 2018, with a fully-electric powertrain and 310-mile range. It’ll look almost identical to the car previewed at the Frankfurt Motor Show, and is likely to slot in between the all-new Q5 and recently-updated Q7.
Sitting beside the e-tron at Audi’s Future Performance Day workshop this week, Dr Rudiger Chmielewski, head of total vehicle development told Auto Express that they’d undergone several design clinics in Germany and the USA, and were close to finalizing the SUV’s shape.
“We have found the right height,” Dr Chmielewski noted. “You will find this in the exterior. You’ll also find the headlight pattern in all our electric cars.”
Probably the most interesting comment, though, was the comment on charging networks: “By the time we launch the e-tron, we will have a fast charge network in Germany. An 80% charge will take 30 minutes. The success of a model like this will depend on the infrastructure.”
Presuming the comment on a fast-charging network in Germany is true, that’s great, but you can count me as skeptical. Progress on fast-charging infrastructure in Germany has been incredibly slow to date — to the degree that one even has to consider the possibility of “conspiracy theories” on the matter.
30 minutes to 80% for a 300 mile range must be a lot more then the 50kw posts just completed between Berlin and Munich then…
Told you so.
Have Audi given any indication on the price point of the Q6 etron? If it slots in between the Q5 and Q7, that would hopefully mean a starting price of $50k.
Battery prices are the largest factor. 300mi range = ~100kwh pack @ $100/kwh in 2 years, that’s $10,000 for the batteries so that price seems reasonable…but it all depends on the battery price if you ask me.
2 years to build a network? Good luck…
Well, how long time did Tesla use?
– also there is already quite a few 50kW chargers available throughout Europe, which can be usable for a while until 150/300kW stations are built.
It’s easy to say “tesla did it” but they have a very unique culture that allows (or enables?) crazy to happen. Audi waiting until 2018 means they are idealists…but also that they don’t really know EVs yet. Seems a big disconnected from reality if you ask me.
“Useable for a while” is what early adopters put up with. And they typically only put up with it because better alternatives don’t exist. Early majority aren’t going to buy the thousands and thousands of Audi’s that must be sold under the premise:
“Here, use this really crappy infrastructure and trust us to build a better one. Oh, and trust us to get it right instead of getting it wrong.”
Do you think ANYBODY with half a brain is going to trust VW to put the customer interest first? Not now!!
Also, I don’t think VW/Audi has the vision or will to make that level of commitment. They can’t look at this from a first principles design perspective, they’ll want to monetize, and if they do they are certain to fail.
Even if a magic wand built such an infrastructure overnight, and it was built such that their weren’t huge lines waiting to charge, would you buy an Audi over a Tesla when comparing a “one year for free” (or somesuch) charging scheme against “free for life”.
The only way it works for a major is to partner with Tesla. I’m watching for that to happen, but not sure any majors recognize it’s their best option.
I’m curious if they are going to partner with Tesla on charging or what their plans are there? It seems like that would be cheaper/easier than to build out their own network…
They (the VAG group) have decided for the CCS standard, and it seems like their electric cars with large batteries will support 150kW 400V and 300kW 800V charging.
This means that the charging standard/specification is even better than what Tesla delivers today – so the only problem is the current lack of charging stations (almost all CCS currently capped at 50kW rate)
Bummer. It’s fine to say they can charge up in no time flat but when customer get out in the field and pay for dc fast charging and only get a fraction of what they were expecting, they likely aren’t going to be happy about it. Oh well, not the first company to build for the future and hope the charging network gets there…
The newest CCS chargers *today* offers 130kW charging rate, with a maximum supported by the CCS standard at 300+kW (at 800-850V).