Addition of a Sportback option enhances the appeal of Audi’s large electric.

EVEN though new electric cars don’t achieve massive sales penetration, Audiphiles should surely by now have their heads around this whole e-tron thing. 

What the tech does and why, how you live with it … nothing’s enigmatic any longer, right?

It’s literally just ordinary motoring life with a plug and play element that all works seamlessly at home while those on the run can now rely an established national recharging network provisioning a quick and seamless replenishment and reach into almost parts of the country where they might like to drive.

About that. For sure, the open road support structure is incomplete – it’s still early days with the next step roll out of high-output DC chargers that will be increasing demand – and one or two more remote A to B drive routes continue to ask for careful planning.

But with 144 DC rapid charging stations in the North Island and a further 65 in the South, plus at least 300 AC charge points nationally, the infrastructure is so robust that, generally speaking if you’re running an electric car with 250kms’ range or better, then all real and perceived anxieties and challenges are by and large addressed.

So, even though electric cars continue to account for a fraction of new vehicle registrations, at least the support structure is robust and complete enough. And that, in turn, fuels Audi New Zealand’s confidence about this being a good environment into which it can continue to deliver fully electric fare. 

It’s no half-hearted rollout. VW Group’s electric ambition is extremely bold and, notwithstanding what others within this family of brands are intending for New Zealand, at the moment it’s very much a case of Audi leading the charge.

Over the next 18 months, it will have two more brand-new cars – the high-performance E-Tron GT that platform-shares with the Porsche Taycan, and the Q4, a compact that is crucial for volume-building (coming in two body shapes) – as well as more sporty editions of the E-Tron we’ve enjoyed in sports utility format for the past year, over which time 150 have found homes, plus a new Sportback variant that has just landed. 

Opportunity to experience the latter was the reason for a media outing yesterday, with a route that took cars from Audi NZ’s headquarters in Auckland through to an eco-house just outside of Raglan, with driving on a winding country road on the outward leg and a more relaxed mainly motorway cruise back.

The run afforded opportunity for experiencing a ‘future-now’ replenishment provision – stopping at the country’s first dual ‘hyperchargers’, the fastest publicly available EV chargers in the country (with 300kW, they’re six times more powerful that regular DC chargers), at Bombay – and also, though it seemed to escape most participants, a return to a road important to Audi’s history.

Our conference spot just outside of Raglan was the Glass House, a holiday home created by a pair of Kiwi entrepreneurs to highest eco-design potential (everything is off the grid and mainly solar-powered).

Reaching this meant driving, for a short distance, the Whaanga Coast road, which true motorsport fans will surely recognise as one of the greatest past stages for the world rally championship; a route on which Audi’s genius Ur Quattro earned its spurs with a clear victory in 1984.

The ‘q’ word is surely the only technical tie between what was then the world’s most advanced car in dirt-configured motorsport and the car we drove yesterday. And, even in respect to quattro, the system utilised by the all-electric model we drove yesterday is wholly different to that which Swedish rally ace Stig Blomqvist leveraged to devastating effect four decades ago.

Of course, so too are the cars. No-one had ever thought about sports utilities of any kind back in the 1980 and, of course, anyone conjecturing then that they might one day affect a coupe-like silhouette and be operating entirely on battery power would have been openly laughed at.

But that’s the world we are in now and it will only continue to evolve toward electric impetus.

How different the cars, but what about the driving intents? Well, it’s fair to recognise that the E-Tron Sportback as it represents now prioritises focus on plush sophistication; the variant that will really push the sporty side is the tri-motor ‘S’ edition arriving next year.

In choosing State Highway 22, through Rangiri and Pukekawa, as the main element of the outward driving leg, Audi’s route planner elected road that I imagined was going to stretch the model’s dynamic talent, and so it proved.

There were never moments when it felt out of sorts, but it soon became apparent that the combinations of sheer size, considerable weight – as sleek as the bodyshape seems when placed alongside the original wagon, there’s a negligible 24kgs between them and it achieves just short of 2.5 tonnes on scales – and the radically different way an electric powertrain performs (faster ramp up, no engine braking, in particular) made it unsurprising that it could not be effectively driven in a manner emulating the petrol-engined sports sedan leading our group. 

Notwithstanding that it has huge wallop when unleashed – Audi quotes 0-100kmh in 5.7 seconds in Sport mode (power boosted to 300kW), rising to 6.6s in 265kW Normal – you’re going to find that’s really reserved for easier roads than this. 

An electric car asks for more consideration to not only how much throttle it needs but when that should best occur, plus deceleration from the regeneration system’s default auto setting is minimal, so it will free-wheel for much longer distance. The idea, then, is the ratchet up the retardation with the paddle shifters on the steering wheel and, certainly, the strongest of the three settings noticeably slows the vehicle when you let off the accelerator. 

Yet, in a scenario where corners come up quicker than pre-election promises, the requirement to hold a measured pace that allows comfortable progress without slowing it too much was not without challenge.

So, as much as the all-wheel action and the excellent tyres (in this instance, the 21-inch alloys are shod with 265/45 PremiumContact6 rubber), the sports air suspension, adaptive damping and a host of drive modes from which to choose are powerful and generally helpful partners, there’s an art to keeping it seemly that does not come wholly naturally. You’ve to relearn a lot.

 In saying that, the curve is not steep. One big step forward came with abandoning the Dynamic setting that would outwardly seem the right choice and instead dialling it back to Comfort. The car immediately felt better balanced and easier to control. Less banging on the throttle and brake also made a huge difference.

Dialling back a touch also improved efficiency, though in respect to that, while the returns from all the cars were nothing flash, none of us managed to blow apart the host’s expectation of being not being able to make the journey from Bombay through to Raglan and back to Bombay without extra juice. 

On the other hand, there wasn’t too much in reserve; even though the return route was much less strenuous and even-paced, the car I drove, having started off full with 350km of range available, was down to 91kms’ left when it hooked up to the hypercharger for a second time. Still, all it needed was 10 minutes’ rejuicing to take the battery level back to around 70 percent.

That’s the beauty of the fastest charging; even a few minutes hooked up adds 50km; 20 minutes would have added 230km of range and 30 adds 300, according to the provider. All in all, then it isn’t much different from stopping at a petrol station for fuel and, perhaps, a coffee.

Could you live with that? Audi contention is that there’s no reason why not. Most people take no more than four big journeys per year. The majority of trips are less than 35km per day, for city dwellers. With an electric car of this calibre, an overnight charge once every five or so days is plenty to keep the battery topped up. And if you are constantly on the move and ranging extensively, it’s good news that more hyperchargers are set to pop up around tthe country over the next year.

Studies show 95 percent of EV charging is done at home. Having an efficient charger is important and Audi reckons the E-Tron is well-sorted through coming with a portable 7.2kW 32amp single phase charger that can add around 35km of range per hour, provided you install the necessary plug. Just an hour on the charger at night is sufficient for the next day’s travel, it was suggested during the day.

Living with an E-Tron is appealing for more than this. This coupe’s equivalent in the wagon line – which Audi is calling the ‘regular’ body style to establish differentiation - is the 55 Advanced, so it’s pretty swish, with specifications and comforts mirrored.

They’re essentially technical doppelgangers, albeit with some minor freeing of how much of the 95kWh battery can be used (it’s gone to 91 percent, up from 88 percent previously). Though the body shape obviously alters the space story – mainly in the boot, which drops in capacity by 45 litres to 615 – the rear seat still affords good headroom.

Really, then, it’s the look and impression of it offering a slightly different persona that underpins why it commands a $11000 premium, though that’s not to say it’s a show pony. 

Of course, it’s in a congested segment. Not so much in the EV sense, though some obvious competitors spring to mind, as in SUV-dom in general. You can buy quite a few fossil fuel-reliant big hitter alternates for this money. 

So why the E-tron? Apart from being set up for a future that cannot be ignored, it also works competently in the now, in more ways than might be evident. Interestingly, and undoubtedly acknowledging the lifestyle buyer in this segment, Audi reminds the E-Tron is rated at 1800kg for braked towing. Handy enough for small boats, jet skis and the like.

The ‘imposition’ of an electric vehicle lifestyle is fast fading. The cost of running a fossil fuelled car? Well, admittedly, it’s hardly taxing, either. And, no argument, there’s a lot to like about how orthodox SUVs drive and what they offer.

Still, here’s one last E-Tron ace card worth considering. In general operation, and on relaxed roads, it’s an impressively refined and ultra-quiet drive. One arguably standout quality is how little noise it actually makes, or at least how little of it you can actually hear. The refinement is quite remarkable. In this car, a whisper can be as loud as a shout.