Audi e-tron is preparing to fight Tesla Model X

19 September 2018

European sales of the electric crossover will begin before the end of the year

Scary to imagine, but the first series concept Audi e-tron appeared in 2009. Almost ten years ago! Then on the "Tesla" is still little known, and the company was completely different. It has just started deliveries of its first model, Roadster, in was based on a Lotus chassis. To go public and start selling the Model S was still a lot of time to world fame one of the leaders in the industry. But today the yard is quite a different picture. But if in 2009, Tesla was considered to be a small-town startup with an uncertain future today after her trying to keep up with all the world's automakers (although the prospects of the manufacturer according to many experts is still foggy). Here is the new electric crossover crossover Audi e-tron is an attempt to give an answer to the Tesla Model X.

Can it be considered a coincidence the fact that the new model Audi came out immediately after the announcement Mercedes-Benz EQC that will play in the same League? Unlikely. Plus, the same design approach. And colleagues from Stuttgart, the engineers from Ingolstadt took the existing crossover platform and based on it built electric model.

Audi e-tron is based on a modular MLB Evo, which is already widely dispersed across the latest models of the company. Here we use the front double wishbones and rear multi-link. With a wheelbase 928 2 mm total body length is 4 mm. 901 the Car was very large: it is a bit inferior to the Audi Q8 or the same Tesla Model X, but noticeably superior to the Mercedes-Benz EQC.

Some of the technical aspects of the Audi e-tron is also very close to his countryman. For example, the capacity of the two asynchronous motors of the same — 408 horsepower. At the same time, torque is below — 664 N·m. Plus, maximum performance e-tron is able to deliver no longer than one minute, after which the return drops to 360 HP and 560 N·m. acceleration from 0 to 100 km/h the novelty spends less than six seconds, top speed limited at around 200 km/h.

But the novelty has its advantages over its closest competitors. Chief among them is more capacious lithium-ion battery up to 95 kW·h. This is more than the Mercedes-Benz EQC (80 kWh) and Jaguar I-Pace (90 kWh). The leaders remained only the Tesla Model X with battery 100 kWh, but it should be remembered that it is the oldest of the possible versions, but there are more modest modifications. In the end, on a single charge the Audi e-tron can travel up to 400 kilometers.

The first production electric car Audi, claim relative mass, will be produced at the Belgian factory of the company. The initial equipment in Germany is estimated at €79 900. For comparison, I Jaguar-Pace costs from €78 000, the Tesla Model X at least €95 830.