Watch How the Audi e-tron Is Made

Audi has built a number of green cars over the years, such as the pioneering A2 TDI 3L or the A3 e-tron, which was the first of many plug-ins. But all of those featured combustion engines, and while the e-tron SUV has a platform derived from normal Audis, nothing about the way it's built is the same.

But the factory where it's built is just as interesting as the car. Audi invested billions in its facility near Brussels, Belgium. This plant not only had to be retooled after making the A1 supermini for many years, but also minimized its energy footprint. Audi installed a sprawling 37,000-square-meter photovoltaic farm on the rooftop which is said to cut their reliance to the grid to as little as 5%. They also use heat exchangers to reduce CO2 emissions around 4,000 tonnes of it.

The footage released recently by Audis shows numerous obstacle-detecting robots shuffle parts around with minimal human intervention. At the same time, we see Audi's first battery-making stations, as they pirouette large cells through the air for the welding robots to do their job.

Audi is unique in making the battery in the safe facility as the EV. It's designed by LG Chem, like most of its rivals. To be fair, the battery is partly responsible for a production bottleneck when the e-tron started rolling off the line.

The second version of the e-tron SUV, the Sportback, should be unveiled a bit later this year. It will be followed by a sedan and the Q4 e-tron, which is based on VW's MEB architecture and will be made in China.