Audi's Latest EV Reveal

[Tedkidd]

DirkHH, That dealer experience was mild. Car salespeople are still pretty clueless about EV's. The incentive is not there - the cars take 4x as long to sell and have a much lower closing ratio. BMW offered cheap leases to salespeople, so you've got a chance to speak to someone knowledgeable if you go there.

I really like the Mercedes, particularly as they're sometimes available for under $300 a month on lease. Because nobody can sell them they sit, and eventually they have to give them away. For that price it's an absolutely incredible car. The BMW, VW, and Smart are the other non-Tesla EV's I think are a kick to drive.

Drove the Audi A3 Etron PH EV tonight with a friend. We drove the car about 15 miles. The gas engine kept coming on for my friend because he went "past the button" trying to get some EV goodness out of the car. The car started out with a full charge and even with 20-30% ice use ended the trip with no range left. The car is almost $700 a month to lease.

Clearly Audi has absolutely no clue how to make an electric vehicle. It has no EV soul. It's a eunuch, electric motor castrated by the six speed slush box it is coupled to this car is barely a hybrid. We were both really disappointed and saddened. I don't think Elon is getting any help with his mission for quite some time, unless it comes from BYD.

My friend wants to make a Hitler video of the experience. I'd say Audi is screwed.

 

[dirkhh]

DirkHH, That dealer experience was mild. Car salespeople are still pretty clueless about EV's. The incentive is not there - the cars take 4x as long to sell and have a much lower closing ratio. BMW offered cheap leases to salespeople, so you've got a chance to speak to someone knowledgeable if you go there.

I really like the Mercedes, particularly as they're sometimes available for under $300 a month on lease. Because nobody can sell them they sit, and eventually they have to give them away. For that price it's an absolutely incredible car. The BMW, VW, and Smart are the other non-Tesla EV's I think are a kick to drive.

Drove the Audi A3 Etron PH EV tonight with a friend. We drove the car about 15 miles. The gas engine kept coming on for my friend because he went "past the button" trying to get some EV goodness out of the car. The car started out with a full charge and even with 20-30% ice use ended the trip with no range left. The car is almost $700 a month to lease.

Clearly Audi has absolutely no clue how to make an electric vehicle. It has no EV soul. It's a eunuch, electric motor castrated by the six speed slush box it is coupled to this car is barely a hybrid. We were both really disappointed and saddened. I don't think Elon is getting any help with his mission for quite some time, unless it comes from BYD.

So the BMW X5 4.0e is just like the A3 Etron. Feels like a joke in EV only mode, 15 miles range if you are lucky. Chevy's Volt does that much better - what a shame.

That said - through a relative I have fairly good information on Audi's internal workings and it appears that they are sincerely trying to put together a competitive set of EVs. And I quite sincerely wish them luck.

If we can add one credible, competitive EV every other year we should call ourselves lucky: Model S in 2012, Model X in 2014 (err, you know, yeah, almost), Bolt this year, Model 3 in 2018 (or, you know, it's Tesla, late 2019) and the Audi Q6 in 2020 - I'd consider this a positive outcome.

 

[AustinPowers]

If we can add one credible, competitive EV every other year we should call ourselves lucky: Model S in 2012, Model X in 2014 (err, you know, yeah, almost), Bolt this year, Model 3 in 2018 (or, you know, it's Tesla, late 2019) and the Audi Q6 in 2020 - I'd consider this a positive outcome.

Well, perhaps you should have said "credible, competitive long-range EV", because I would say that there are several credible and competitive EVs out there right now that can perfectly replace at least a family's "secondary" car:

B-Class EV
e-Golf
Leaf
i3
Zoe

All five of those are compelling EVs in their own right - for what they claim to be.
Sure, none of those matches the range of a Tesla (any), or a Bolt, but for normal everyday around-town driving and medium-distance commuting they are almost perfect imho. Each with an emphasis on a different aspect like "premium" model in the B-Class or i3, affordability in the others.

 

[Tedkidd]

...they are sincerely trying to put together a competitive set of EVs. And I quite sincerely wish them luck.

If we can add one credible, competitive EV every other year we should call ourselves lucky: Model S in 2012, Model X in 2014 (err, you know, yeah, almost), Bolt this year, Model 3 in 2018 (or, you know, it's Tesla, late 2019) and the Audi Q6 in 2020 - I'd consider this a positive outcome.

If true, I agree! A million cars per year is a milestone that would be nice to hit before 2020, Tesla won't do that alone.

Agree with Austin, 200+ mile cars, though I suspect >120 mile cars are toast. Burnt, fire sale toast that are going to tank big time either this year or next. Only early adopters buy them. And early adopters are not likely to buy a severely handicapped car twice, particularly if there are cost competitive non-handicapped alternatives.