Audi E-Tron Technik

[IndyIan]

Originally Posted by OVERKILL
Originally Posted by Trav
The car could pay a decent portion of the cost to own in savings alone in your case. When you take all into account (I am sure you did) you cant beat this with a stick.


I did, the fuel savings right now would be ~5-6,000 a year, more if gas prices go back up beyond what they were before the downturn, which I expect they will as our carbon tax ratchets up. If I can get my wife to drive it more often too, and leave the truck, that'll increase the savings even more. The idea is to encourage all local driving, when possible, to take place with the EV, as that's where the gassers are least efficient. Immediately I'll be saving $400/month, but that could get up to $600 easily if some of the truck mileage is diverted.


That is quite the machine! It makes good sense to switch to electricity for the local travel as the electricity bill is subsidized here as well... Even with our relatively efficient gassers switching to electricity would still cut the fuel bill in half with gas at $0.90/L which would add up pretty quickly if we ever get back to driving again. Enjoy the new car!

 

[JHZR2]

Originally Posted by OVERKILL
Originally Posted by Trav
Congrats, that is a nice car.


Thank you my friend

The intention will be to use the EV for as much local driving as possible, where the truck, and the Jeep, were the worst on gas. This will dramatically decrease my fuel costs, which were around $800/month.


That makes a lot of sense. Keep the other vehicles and have an eV as an extra.

I'm a big fan of PHEV and the design that bmw tried with the 35kW apu. Because otherwise I can't imagine getting rid of a straight up liquid fueled vehicle.

My daily commute is like 8 miles each way. A car with 200 miles range like your Audi would make sense for that.

But I can easily do 300 miles in 24 hours other times, and to find and then spend 30 minutes at a charger makes zero sense. Overnight charging isn't always in the cards either. Similarly, go to a place like a vacation home or something, that barely has a 5-15 in a convenient spot, let alone a 50A plug, and all of a sudden you have to go search out a charger for 30+ minutes, which to me seems like a huge hassle.

Since short tripping is hard on IC engines, and the logistics just aren't there for these vehicles to be what I'd call convenient for long range use, your use profile makes total sense to me. It's a big investment, I can't see saving enough fuel to buy a $75k eV, or even a cheaper one like a model 3, but I can see the potential for big payback if used right. it looks like you have the fuel bill to make that the case.

 

[OVERKILL]

Originally Posted by JHZR2
Originally Posted by OVERKILL
Originally Posted by Trav
Congrats, that is a nice car.


Thank you my friend

The intention will be to use the EV for as much local driving as possible, where the truck, and the Jeep, were the worst on gas. This will dramatically decrease my fuel costs, which were around $800/month.


That makes a lot of sense. Keep the other vehicles and have an eV as an extra.

I'm a big fan of PHEV and the design that bmw tried with the 35kW apu. Because otherwise I can't imagine getting rid of a straight up liquid fueled vehicle.

My daily commute is like 8 miles each way. A car with 200 miles range like your Audi would make sense for that.

But I can easily do 300 miles in 24 hours other times, and to find and then spend 30 minutes at a charger makes zero sense. Overnight charging isn't always in the cards either. Similarly, go to a place like a vacation home or something, that barely has a 5-15 in a convenient spot, let alone a 50A plug, and all of a sudden you have to go search out a charger for 30+ minutes, which to me seems like a huge hassle.

Since short tripping is hard on IC engines, and the logistics just aren't there for these vehicles to be what I'd call convenient for long range use, your use profile makes total sense to me. It's a big investment, I can't see saving enough fuel to buy a $75k eV, or even a cheaper one like a model 3, but I can see the potential for big payback if used right. it looks like you have the fuel bill to make that the case.




Yeah, fuel cost is a fair bit higher up here, even higher in Europe but of course, as you noted, the usage profile has to make sense. I doubt I'll ever drive it further than the cottage, as that's about the limit for the range (there and back). And it might end up needing a charge top up in Gravenhurst even doing that, which will be something to see. It comes with 2-years of free charging on the fast charge network, so top-up charging while I grab groceries may work.

We'll see how it plays out, it's my first foray into this environment, so I expect there will be a bit of a learning curve.

 

[JeffKeryk]

Originally Posted by OVERKILL

We'll see how it plays out, it's my first foray into this environment, so I expect there will be a bit of a learning curve.

Great point; there is a learning curve. When we 1st got our car, I had my doubts. We drove around checking out the charging locations.
Now, Silicon Valley is much different than other places...
Kaiser (hospital) clinic had chargers located in 3 different spots in their huge parking lot.
Downtown Los Gatos has a 30 car Tesla station. City offices have free charging. Work has subsidized charging.
It is different, but it is doable. When you are driving past a single charge, you may need only 10 to 15 minutes to charge up. It depends... You learn.

The best part is starting out every day with a full tank!
OVERKILL, you are starting on a new adventure! Yay!
Enjoy your beautiful Audi!

 

[JeffKeryk]

Charging at home. A software update is being installed now as well.
When the battery is low, it charges at 80 mph; charging slows as the battery saturates.

 

[Andrew1972]

EV are nice luxuries currently or limited use case daily cars and this one is incredible. Enjoy.

 

[OVERKILL]

Originally Posted by JeffKeryk
Charging at home. A software update is being installed now as well.
When the battery is low, it charges at 80 mph; charging slows as the battery saturates.


Very cool! I'll post a few screenshots of the Audi app once I register it on Tuesday. It allows me to program when, and at what rate, it charges at home for example, which I fully intend on utilizing.

 

[JHZR2]

Originally Posted by JeffKeryk
Originally Posted by OVERKILL

We'll see how it plays out, it's my first foray into this environment, so I expect there will be a bit of a learning curve.

Great point; there is a learning curve. When we 1st got our car, I had my doubts. We drove around checking out the charging locations.
Now, Silicon Valley is much different than other places...
Kaiser (hospital) clinic had chargers located in 3 different spots in their huge parking lot.
Downtown Los Gatos has a 30 car Tesla station. City offices have free charging. Work has subsidized charging.
It is different, but it is doable. When you are driving past a single charge, you may need only 10 to 15 minutes to charge up. It depends... You learn.

The best part is starting out every day with a full tank!
OVERKILL, you are starting on a new adventure! Yay!
Enjoy your beautiful Audi!


Im sure you do learn. My understanding is that it's much slower to charge to 100% than 80. That's due to a cc/cv charge profile, so full is an exponential decay. The Audi book linked to earlier in this thread listed 0-80-% times.

A friend told me it's only practical to do 20-80% in routine use on long trips in his Tesla model s. It's too long when below 20% and slow over 80%.

But on the Audi, 60% of 204 miles is 122 miles. Then a rapid stay on a rapid charger is necessary. Something tells me this is very doable locally. On a long trip it's probably shorter than one would want to go and stop, but it's probably healthy to stop and stretch legs every 120-150 miles in reality.

The narrower the SOC range, the significantly longer the cycle life...

 

[JeffKeryk]

Originally Posted by JHZR2

Im sure you do learn. My understanding is that it's much slower to charge to 100% than 80. That's due to a cc/cv charge profile, so full is an exponential decay. The Audi book linked to earlier in this thread listed 0-80-% times.

A friend told me it's only practical to do 20-80% in routine use on long trips in his Tesla model s. It's too long when below 20% and slow over 80%.

But on the Audi, 60% of 204 miles is 122 miles. Then a rapid stay on a rapid charger is necessary. Something tells me this is very doable locally. On a long trip it's probably shorter than one would want to go and stop, but it's probably healthy to stop and stretch legs every 120-150 miles in reality.

The narrower the SOC range, the significantly longer the cycle life...

Range is important; infrastructure is everything especially if you are gonna use an EV for extended driving.
Every EV owner I know has an ICE car as well. And they are everywhere in Silicon Valley.
EVs are not for everyone...

As much as I am impressed by our car's technology, I still consider it a toy. An expensive toy.

 

[The Critic]

So your wife hates it?

 

[OVERKILL]

Originally Posted by The Critic
So your wife hates it?


Yup. The lack of engine noise.... It's INSANELY quiet; like two people having convo in front of it, you can't hear them at all. It also doesn't have any real personality, which she hates. May not hold onto it. We should have done some extensive test driving before pulling the trigger, something difficult to do in this whole COVID situation. Not an excuse of course.

 

[IndyIan]

Originally Posted by OVERKILL
Originally Posted by The Critic
So your wife hates it?


Yup. The lack of engine noise.... It's INSANELY quiet; like two people having convo in front of it, you can't hear them at all. It also doesn't have any real personality, which she hates. May not hold onto it. We should have done some extensive test driving before pulling the trigger, something difficult to do in this whole COVID situation. Not an excuse of course.

Probably Tesla is working on it, but what would be cool, is to simulate a gas engine in a EV. Make up some engine noises to put through the front speakers, make the power curve more peaky, simulate gear shifts. One day you car could sound and pull like your old 5.0, the next like a V10 Audi...

 

[JeffKeryk]

These cars are different. Personally, I don't get the no engine noise thing, but apparently some owners do.
My friend's BMW i8 plays sound through the speakers if you want it. Please...

 

[Andrew1972]

Originally Posted by OVERKILL
Originally Posted by The Critic
So your wife hates it?


Yup. The lack of engine noise.... It's INSANELY quiet; like two people having convo in front of it, you can't hear them at all. It also doesn't have any real personality, which she hates. May not hold onto it. We should have done some extensive test driving before pulling the trigger, something difficult to do in this whole COVID situation. Not an excuse of course.


I would never get rid of something because my wife did not like it for superfluous reason. But couples are different.

 

[Quattro Pete]

Originally Posted by JeffKeryk
Personally, I don't get the no engine noise thing, but apparently some owners do.

The lack of engine noise is a big no-no for me. I hated a Prius when I test drove it because of this, and a modern EV is even quieter than that.

 

[JeffKeryk]

Originally Posted by Quattro Pete
Originally Posted by JeffKeryk
Personally, I don't get the no engine noise thing, but apparently some owners do.

The lack of engine noise is a big no-no for me. I hated a Prius when I test drove it because of this, and a modern EV is even quieter than that.


Our Tesla is the only EV I have driven. I have been in my friend's i8.
I can tell you the fun of the Model 3 is fantastic. I guess that's why I don't get the no engine noise thing.
FYI, my Vette is an L36 (427 4bbl) with Hedman headers, 2.5" pipes and turbos out the back. The sound is pure heaven.

 

[bluesubie]

Originally Posted by OVERKILL
Originally Posted by The Critic
So your wife hates it?


Yup. The lack of engine noise.... It's INSANELY quiet; like two people having convo in front of it, you can't hear them at all. It also doesn't have any real personality, which she hates. May not hold onto it. We should have done some extensive test driving before pulling the trigger, something difficult to do in this whole COVID situation. Not an excuse of course.


Congrats on the car!
My wife loves the e-tron (especially after driving our son-in-law's Model S) and would consider it for her next car. But for now, she's very happy with her 2011 3.2L Q5 with AWE Tuning downpipes and exhaust. Tons of personality.

 

[OVERKILL]

Here it is in the driveway. If I offload it now, I'll be losing about 10-15K, which may or may not be worth it, I'm waffling. My wife has said she'd begrudgingly drive it, but we both really miss the Jeep. The Jeep interior was better, the steering wheel controls were better, UConnect is better. The Audi is a LOT better insulated; it is a lot quieter of a vehicle and has far better sound deadening, but the Jeep had an incredible personality and the sound of it was part of that. I dunno, I'm really torn at the moment, which sucks.

 

[wemay]

I've had buyers remorse and this sounds very much like that, my friend. You will spend a few months trying to justify and fall in love with the Audi but chances are it won't happen. Both are wicked vehicles but so different in visceral appeal. Hopefully i'm mistaken and it grows on you to the point you and the wife don't miss the Jeep.

 

[OVERKILL]

Originally Posted by wemay
I've had buyers remorse and this sounds very much like that, my friend. You will spend a few months trying to justify and fall in love with the Audi but chances are it won't happen. Both are wicked vehicles but so different in visceral appeal. Hopefully i'm mistaken and it grows on you to the point you and the wife don't miss the Jeep.


Yeah, I'm presently weighing everything. The Jeep was a pig on fuel, but you could somewhat control that with the loud pedal. I've spent more on one gun than what I'll lose on this deal, so it isn't the cost that's the issue, I'm trying to be logical but it's quite difficult when there is an emotional attachment, which there undeniably was/is with the Jeep, that's why I owned two of the [censored] things and am leaning toward just saying screw it and ordering #3.