Audi Q6 e-Tron Quattro Planned Essentially As Shown In Frankfurt, Will Have Super-Fast-Charging Capability
Originally published on EV Obsession.
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.
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I wonder what will go behind the enormous grille of this thing. Maybe nothing.
An icebox?
Seems to be difficult to unlearn what we ‘know’ about cars. Even the latest 90 second Tesla factory tour video ends with a Model S ‘zooming’ away – making Porsche like noises.
Totally unrelated – reminds me of the trend here in Australia to put a 5 foot wide front door on new houses. Just in case your friends are really, really obese?
I have not seen the 90 second tour video you mentioned by i laughed out loud when you told us the Model S zoomed away making Porsche noises, mistakes like that drive me mad, did not one car person somehow work on or around that commercial?
The 5ft door sounds nice. In Canada we are building everything open concept now and a large door is helpful to get large pieces of furniture into the house.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUg6SgT4q2w
See (hear) the last 10 seconds.
A lot of car designers spent their whole “life” making sure the grill was big enough. So much so that now it is automatic. So they have to unlearn that skill.
The fake grille is a definite letdown. The Model X revision from concept to the production front end design is everything right.
Totally agree.
If Audi (VW) were wise, they would be working with Tesla to use their supercharger infrastructure in the U.S.
Glad to hear Audi address the charging issue. VW Group should create a branded fast charge network touting zero emissions. If they did it well, and got serious about selling EVs, they would be quickly forgiven for past sins.
Agreed.
By the way, got your magazine (as delivered to my FL address) on my recent trip to the US. Enjoyed the T8 review, as well as the others.
Great news. The more EVs in dealerships, the faster the public will adopt.
Great looking car except the grill which seems suitable for a fuel cell vehicle.
They have already started building the fast charging network in Germany. I think at this point the plan in Europe and the U.S. is an “Anyone But Tesla” fast charging network.
Seems like an unnecessary and undesirable aerodynamics problem.
I get the impression that the response to Tesla’s ‘you can join our charging network’ has been ‘over our dead bodies’. Anyone knows why?
A loss of face for an established car company to acknowledge the new kid on the block?
A problem with adapting to a new way of selling electricity?
By the time Audi can get out of the start box Tesla is likely to be offering well over 300 mile ranges for its most expensive ModS and will have thousands of charge bays and Destination Chargers in place.
Wait, Tesla already has over 3,000 charge bays and around 2,000 destination chargers.
I wouldn’t be surprised to see Tesla blanket Germany with chargers by 2018. ;o)
I count 51 SuperCharger stations in Germany.
http://www.teslamotors.com/findus/list/superchargers/Germany
The network is continuing growth in Europe. About 225 in Europe by the end of 2015.
http://insideevs.com/tesla-details-2016-supercharging-plans-europe-closing-300-stations/
The destination chargers, I assume they are automatically mapped into the Tesla GPS? Are they included on Tesla’s supercharger map on their website? Do you know the makeup of the types of destinations? I assume hotels, resturants, etc?
Here’s the page. There’s a map and you can click on the icons to find the exact location.
I clicked on a few. Hotels, a winery, an Airbnb, ….
http://www.teslamotors.com/destination-charging
I have not been to Tesla’s site in some time and didnt remember about the separate tab for destination chargers, thank you. It helps a fair bit as we really only have 1 supercharger in the Toronto area but the destination chargers downtown appear to be all hotels with only 1 or 2 chargers at varying amps/speeds.
Tesla is giving away the chargers – and – paying for their installation. I’m surprised that hotels aren’t snapping them up. I would think hotel chains would be all over this.
No cost to the hotel. Add a modest use fee to cover the <$10 worth of electricity.
I think one thing is that they aren’t really going to help that much until electric cars have more range (even a 107-mile LEAF is not made for long road trips you want to do in a timely fashion), and then the other thing is that would be them conceding that they are losing and need Tesla’s help… which I think these companies are more or less not considering an option.