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Audi A9 e-tron Confirmed to Rock Down to Electric Avenue

While VW has already entered the electric vehicle game with the e-up! and e-Golf, Audi is trailing behind with a couple of plug-in hybrid vehicles. Happily, however, that will soon change.
Audi Prologue Concept 21 photos
Photo: Audi
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The Audi R8 e-tron doesn’t even matter for a very simple reason: when was the last time you saw one on public roads? For what is worth, the first production-ready Audi electric vehicle will come in the form of the Q6 e-tron SUV, which will start production in 2018 in Brussels, Belgium.

Now, however, Audi head honcho Rupert Stadler let it slip that “by 2020 we will have three EVs in the line-up.” Speaking to Autocar, Stadler further elaborates on the manufacturer’s EV offensive: “We’ll start with the production version of the e-tron quattro concept car, which will have a range of up to 500 km (310 miles). By 2025, 25 percent of our lineup will be battery-driven models.”

The second of those three EVs the chief exec is talking about is the long-due successor of the present-day A3 e-tron PHEV. The last of three will take the form of a luxury sedan positioned “as high up as possible, in the A8 segment”. Unofficially dubbed Audi A9 e-tron, the electric vehicle will take on the Tesla Model S with three electric models.

According to research & development boss Stefan Knirsch, both the Q6 e-tron and A9 e-tron will be equipped with asynchronous motors, which “achieve similar power outputs [to a synchronous electric motor] but at much higher revs [...] We are convinced they offer higher efficiency levels than synchronous motors.”

Similarly to the Q6 e-tron, the Audi A9 e-tron will make use of a 95 kWh battery integrated into the undercarriage. Tesla Model S, anyone? On that note, the A9 e-tron is also expected to boast inductive charging, autonomous parking, and “level four” autonomous driving technology. To put that into perspective, the Audi A8 (D5) will pride itself on “level three” automation.

According to Audi, L3 autonomous driving technology is suitable for driving up and down motorways at speeds no higher than 37 mph (60 km/h). L4, on the other hand, can manage higher speeds and more driving scenarios.
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Editor's note: Audi Prologue Concept pictured.

About the author: Mircea Panait
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After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well.
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