Driving a car for the environment? And then so many kilometers? If you are traveling purely electrically, this poses few environmental problems. For example, various testers in 80 Audi A1 e-tron prototypes and 40 Audi A3 e-tron have around 1,4 in the course of the "Showcase Electromobility" funding program Millions of test kilometers covered. The small cars covered 550.000 kilometers, while the compact models even covered 805.000 kilometers. The bottom line is the testers' positive opinion of electromobility.
That's a good thing, after all, you don't see Stromers and hybrids all that often in everyday streets. Sure, the prices for these vehicles have so far mainly appealed to enthusiasts, but something about that should change in the future. If you also consider that a Renault Zoe or Nissan Leaf are already available at affordable prices, one wonders why e-mobility has not expanded much further. The federal government and the automotive industry work together here. As part of the four-year “Electric Mobility Showcase” funding program, various testers were able to move around one of 80 Audi A1 e-tron prototypes that has a range extender. The technology seems to be mature, so that the test subjects quickly gained confidence. That can also be said of the Audi A3 e-tron, which was also convincing and about 70 percent purely electric. Long distances are not a problem for the compact, after all, in addition to the electric motor, it also has a 1.4 liter direct-injection petrol engine.
Its maximum electric range is around 50 kilometers, which, oddly enough, corresponds exactly to the average of the kilometers covered. But about half of the trips were far below: about ten kilometers made up a large number of trips. One test subject was particularly brilliant: he managed to refuel only once over the test period of five months - and this with a distance of around 7.700 kilometers.
At the end of the project, there is a gain in knowledge: electromobility is quite possible. However, satisfaction with it also depends heavily on how convenient charging will be in the future. Users would like a nationwide infrastructure and political support for e-mobility, says Audi. However, the Ingolstadt residents do not want to rest on their laurels and are forcing the expansion of the loading structure - both in private garages and in employee parking lots. In addition, they are expanding their portfolio of plug-in hybrids: the Audi Q7 3.0 TDI e-tron Quattro is already available for order and is said to be one of five models that will represent Audi's plug-in hybrid program by 2018. In addition, the Ingolstadt-based company also plans to launch a purely electric SUV with a range of more than 500 kilometers. Hopefully the electricity suppliers can handle it.