Audi e-tron: An electric SUV that redefines luxury standards and satisfies all your ambitions

All the hesitant cover-ups and self-deprecating remarks about electric vehicles, such as performance, brand, endurance, experience, etc., have all turned into a calm expression when it comes to Audi's first electric SUV, the e-tron.

Starting from zero carbon emissions, Audi sets out

Audi chose Masdar City, an ecological city in the United Arab Emirates, as the starting point for this test drive. In this small city of 50,000 people, everything, starting from every street lamp on the street, is designed in accordance with the principles of environmental sustainability. The city is completely dependent on solar and wind energy, becoming the world's first zero-carbon emission ecological city and known as an ecological oasis in the desert.

The dark green ribbon in the distance that looks like a lake is the power station of Masdar City, except that it has achieved completely zero carbon emissions. Those dark green colors are actually solar panels that provide ecological energy for the city day and night.

In this test drive, Audi provided five colors of vehicles, but in actual sales, Audi will transform from an ever-changing lighting factory into a colorful "colorful person," providing up to 12 colors for users to choose from. This is not a major change, but it is enough to warm the hearts of users - at least it will reduce the chance of color collision on the road. Between individuality and conformity, Audi has made a big deal, adding more vitality to the slightly old-fashioned brand elements.

Just like after entering the new century, the first generation of Chinese netizens completed their basic education. In the current era of social media, their tolerance for new things and discourse environment has been unprecedentedly sublimated. That is, from the so-called "get" to that point to judge whether they are in the same circle, this is a major collective upgrade of the Internet context.

The same is true for the automotive industry. Under the development of early automobile pioneers, the new generation of automobile users or potential users have actually shifted their car selection criteria, from the early focus on power and space to gradually shifting to brand, reputation and even culture.

There is no doubt that Audi is still one of the pioneers in this regard. As the first luxury brand to enter China, it has always been at the forefront in terms of the speed of responding to industry trends. When competitors' new energy models are still leisurely, it has already announced the specific sales time of the e-tron and announced that it will be produced in China in 2020.

In fact, the feedback from this test drive shows that the e-tron gives people the same feeling. It is by no means a last-minute product, but a general guarding the border in the new energy era. And from the long test drive mileage, the e-tron also has the style of becoming a famous general.

Audi e-tron, the key player

The borders of Chu and Han, wherever the Overlord waved his halberd, he was invincible. However, the Overlord was good at attacking but not at defending. It took Liu Bang a month to capture Xingyang, which took him a year. From then on, the ownership of the world was determined.

"Offense sells out the tickets, but defense wins us championships." Michael Jordan's wise words still shine today.

Audi e-tron's territory is China's high-end new energy SUV. In this territory, only Tesla can be called a rival, and the rest are still unknown. Faced with such a situation where it is difficult to find a rival, e-tron is the best strategy to defend and wait for the opportunity. And its strength makes its rivals daunted.

The appearance is almost entirely inherited from Audi's own Q8. Compared with gasoline cars, the mature appearance family language is friendly and soft, without any abrupt feeling. If you are used to Audi's gasoline cars, then the e-tron will definitely not make you feel lost and stunned, everything will seem extremely natural.

The front face is like a King Kong with lowered eyebrows and angry eyes. The perfect design gives you two completely opposite feelings when you look at it from a distance and up close. Majesty is from a distance, and kindness and beauty are close.

The all-silver octagonal grille design highlights the e-tron's identity as an electric vehicle, and the active openable grille provides better aerodynamic assistance for the entire vehicle.

The full LED matrix headlights have 55 LED light sources wrapped in the outermost daytime running lights, 10 of which are high beam lights that can illuminate the distance of 300 meters ahead. The so-called "lighting factory" is actually providing users with the most reliable safety protection.

The waistline is designed to be relatively smooth, but it does not reduce its dynamic state at all. The length of 4910mm and the wheelbase of 2928mm do not look like a medium-sized SUV, but closer to the category of medium-to-large, which also gives the e-tron a clear space advantage in the same class of cars.

The default ground clearance of 172mm, equipped with 255/50 R20 Goodyear SUV tires, not only has strong grip, but also has slightly lower driving noise than competitors.

The overall shape of the rear end highly complies with Audi's inherent design concept and is highly recognizable.

The streaming media rearview mirror of the e-tron, although this device is unlikely to appear in Chinese models due to Chinese laws, is worth mentioning that it is really useful. First, it effectively reduces the drag coefficient by 0.01, and second, the shape is really unique. The 1280 x 720 7-inch high-definition screen has a wide enough field of view, and when the rear car approaches, it will also use red and yellow lines to display warnings, quietly playing the role of a guard.

During the test, a young woman in Dubai who was driving a luxury car looked around and confirmed that there was no one around. She even asked what kind of car it was and why the rearview mirror was so small. After getting the answer that it was a streaming media rearview mirror, she was amazed. This is not a fiction, and the friends present were also shocked. After all, in the local area, women will not take the initiative to talk to people. She took the risk of challenging the secular world to find out the truth, which shows the charm of this new device.

Yes, the automotive industry has not changed in so many years that even small changes can constitute exciting elements of progress.

In terms of interior design, the e-tron does not have a huge LCD screen like many new car manufacturers, but adheres to the practical principle of less is more, adhering to Audi's consistent design style. In fact, compared with other Audi SUV products, the e-tron's interior design is quite restrained, and both the overall and the details are highly consistent with the Audi brand.

Although the interior style does not break Audi tradition, from the perspective of Audi users, it can be said that keeping unchanged in the face of ever-changing situations is conservative, but it also reflects respect for users - users recognize Audi, and the interior style is an indispensable part of it. And it is this steady style that allows e-tron to maintain its inherent luxury advantage in the million-level competition, allowing users to roughly estimate the price range of e-tron at a glance, and it has well maintained its own stature when competing with other models. It has both the shape of a new energy vehicle and the persistence of traditional brand values. Both are appropriate and take the best of both worlds.

When it comes to car pricing, it's a universal thing, and people all over the world are very good at it.

The leather seats of the e-tron are quite comfortable, with moderate hardness and softness, giving people a very specific sense of wrapping in both the front and back seats. If the e-tron were an Internet-made car, there would definitely be several pages in the presentation slides to introduce it in a big way, such as how many thousands of fabrics were selected, how many thousands of people tried it out, and how the tilt angle is ergonomic.

The reason for such ridicule is to illustrate one thing. Some things that seem very difficult to new forces are actually just a simple adaptation in front of mature car manufacturers, because the database scales between the two are completely different. Mature car manufacturers have decades of experience behind them, and making a simple little thing like comfort is just a matter of course, but for many new manufacturers, it may really take some effort.

With impeccable details, every button has the damping feeling that a million-class luxury car should have. Even in the adjustment of the virtual buttons on the LCD screen, the e-tron seems to be equipped with a linear motor similar to that on Apple mobile phones. Even when pressing on the glass, your fingers will feel the real touch of pressing on physical buttons.

As for the speakers, the e-tron's full B&O system is in line with its positioning as a luxury car. In actual sales, I don't know if this will be an optional item. I hope it will be standard, after all, it has reached nearly one million levels.

The turbulent life ambitions beneath the calm appearance

The Audi e-tron has a graceful and elegant appearance, and with its 2.5-ton weight, it is easy to mistake it for a slow-moving fat man.

However, this fat man is really different from other fat men, because this fat man is Sammo Hung. Under the harmless appearance of the e-tron, its power system is powerful, consisting of two front and rear electric motors with a total power of 300kw and a 95kw/h lithium-ion battery pack provided by LG Chem. The maximum torque of 664Nm available on demand is enough to make it go from zero to 100 in 5.7 seconds.

If you don’t have an intuitive experience of this series of data, then, in other words, the e-tron’s power system is stronger than almost all traditional 3.0T gasoline engines, and in terms of continuous power output, especially when climbing hills and mountain roads, there will be no lag or jamming, and it can maintain linear acceleration all the way.

The Audi e-tron battery system weighs about 700kg, is 2.28 meters long, 1.63 meters wide and 34 centimeters high. It consists of 36 battery modules integrated into an aluminum alloy shell, which is made of 47% extruded aluminum materials, 36% aluminum plates and 17% die-cast aluminum parts. The entire battery system weighs about 700kg. A water cooling system is installed to ensure that the temperature is controlled within a reasonable range.

In the e-tron's endurance test, after about an hour of high-speed driving with the air conditioner turned on and two adult males in the car, the range dropped from 310km to 209, which is basically in line with the official advertised 400km range.

How fast is the Audi e-tron's 150kw fast charge? It's a bit exaggerated to say that it takes five minutes to charge and two hours to talk, but when you stand in front of the charging station and watch the charging value keep jumping up, you will be surprised. In the test, it was found that it is completely realistic to fully charge in 30 to 40 minutes, and during this time, it is the time you go to the bathroom, buy a bottle of water, and lean against the distance to smoke a cigarette.

The speed limit on most sections of Dubai's highways is between 140 and 160 km/h. In actual driving, the direct power and precise control of the e-tron will make you full of confidence, and you will involuntarily have a sense of wanton catharsis, and the acceleration on a straight distance is extremely passionate.

In fact, during the test, I drove up to 180 km/h without realizing it. Afterwards, I found out that this was because without the roar of the engine and the slight jerk when shifting gears like a gasoline car, the body's sensitivity to speed is significantly reduced, and the acceleration from zero to 180 for the e-tron is just a matter of seconds.

Although the overall tuning of the e-tron is biased towards comfort, it also performs well on mountain roads and gravel roads. Thanks to the quattro electric four-wheel drive system, the e-tron does not slip when speeding and turning on the fine desert, and all uneven forces are restored to balance within a fraction of a second.

Who says electric cars can't go wild? From mountain roads to highways, from paved roads to sandy hills, what you climb over is no longer anxious about the mileage, what you flatten is the infinite courage to conquer the ruggedness, and what you speed along is the sustained power to face the future. The e-tron can meet your desire for exploration and your ambitions for the distance.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.