[Pippoosh]

[This is my first attempt at a post on Team BHP, so if I inadvertently make a few goof-ups, please pardon those and point me in the right direction!]

So after a couple of months of R&D including feedback from my friends in other countries where EVs are more mainstream, and a few test drives in real Indian conditions we finally got home an Audi E-Tron 55 in Navarra Blue a couple of weeks ago.

We were in the market for a nice upgrade from our 12 year old Honda Civic that has valiantly slogged for 100k Km so far. We started by looking at the new Skoda Superb, but soon enough the desire to upgrade to a luxury brand got us into looking at the Germans. Once you've been spoiled by the space on offer in a Superb, then the X1/GLA/Q3, X3/GLC/Q5 or A4/C/3 Series dont really cut it With God's grace budget not being a constraint we were soon looking at the BMW 6 GT (the rear spoiler is super cool) and Merc E as options.

Having reached that level and given that we tend to own our cars for a long time we then decided that might as well go electric now itself and enjoy being a pioneer instead of going the ICE route and then looking for a change in 5-6 years time. So that narrowed the scope down to the Audi E-Tron, the Jaguar i-Pace and the Merc EQC. The BMW iX was sold out to the select few nobles in India and the dealer shooed us away like beggars without as much as a "let me note your contact details".

Key reasons for finally choosing the E-Tron over everything else came down to a few simple things in the end

1. Space: The E-Tron is simply one size bigger than the other two. Its more like a "Q6" in terms of size in between the Q5 and the Q7 and has only 2 rows of seats. However, the first two rows actually have more space than the Q7's first two rows. Super comfortable and you can actually seat 4 in the back seat.

2. Technology: All the cars have the top end specs for their respective brands. However, the Audi's tech pack with the Digital Matrix lights, the 900 combination ambient lighting are one step above the other two. Standard goodies like 360 camera, air suspension, etc. are essential in this country not to bang your new wheels in our traffic and roads!

3. Practicality: The Jag has a fixed glass roof that heats up like crazy in our weather - while in theory the AC can handle it, it eats up your battery fast. This is likely to be a problem for the Teslas too, as an when they come to India. Also, the boot has very little useable space because the spare tire sits in it. So you can pay 1 Cr+ and have as much boot space as a Suzuki Alto. The Merc has super low ground clearance because of the battery pack and with no-air suspension - so you are guaranteed to hit every other road hump in this country. The Audi suffers from none of these issues - it has a fully closeable sun-roof with blinds, boot space is enormous with the spare tire tucked away under the normal boot and with air suspension you get those critical extra 3 cm of ground clearance. Finally the Audi comes with a 22 KW home charger, that is 2x the speed of the other two - then it becomes a no-brainer really.

We've done some 400 km in it so far - ride is brilliant, silent and after a while you get used to the driving mechanics which is somewhat a mix between an automatic and a manual - it doesnt creep forward like an automatic and you have to press the accelerator to make it go, but then there's no gear shifting involved.

Real world range seems to be between 330 and 370 km, haven't done enough running to figure that out accurately yet.

[Akib Khan]

Congratulations Pipoosh on your new car. I am sure this is the first ownership review of a luxury EV here on Team Bhp. There was a member who upgraded from a humble Maruti800 to BMW 6GT and you upgraded from a Civic. Do you have any other cars in your garage? Please treat us with pictures of your ride.
Wishing you many happy miles with your car. Drive safe

[ninjatalli]

Welcome to the forum, @Pippoosh. What an excellent way to put your first post - with the details of the first Audi E-Tron ownership on the forum!

The EV space is an exciting one with all manufacturers to fully throw their hats in, and it's only going to get better as time progresses. It's very refreshing to hear user perspective as everyone brings in different thought processes - never heard of this realistic point of unnecessary battery consumption due to the large sunroofs (valid point!).

Do share more pics of your vehicle and your experience as you get to use the car more going forward. Wish you a great ownership experience.

[zandot]

Congrats! Great purchase. I have been contemplating an e-tron lately and keep checking all the online reviews.

Please share some photos!

[GTO]

Congrats on buying a truly luxurious electric car. I'd spent a day with the E-Tron in California and was quite impressed with Audi's 1st attempt at a mainstream EV. The car was smooth & offered luxury at a level that Tesla can't even dream of. The build & interior quality were top class. On the other hand, Tesla is miles ahead in terms of drivetrain quality & experience.

Please do share pictures of your car.

Originally Posted by Pippoosh

Real world range seems to be between 330 and 370 km, haven't done enough running to figure that out accurately yet.

I would've expected more, keeping in mind that the E-Tron I drove 3 years ago had an approx ~200 mile range. Like smartphones, EV tech is fast developing and every year brings noticeable improvements. Plus, now, more affordable EVs like the ZS EV & Nexon EV (upcoming update) offer 350+ km.

[condor]

Originally Posted by Pippoosh

[This is my first attempt at a post on Team BHP, so if I inadvertently make a few goof-ups, please pardon those and point me in the right direction!]

We've done some 400 km in it so far - ride is brilliant, silent and after a while you get used to the driving mechanics which is somewhat a mix between an automatic and a manual - it doesnt creep forward like an automatic and you have to press the accelerator to make it go, but then there's no gear shifting involved..

Serious goof-up in your first post itself. You have not shared ANY pics of the car. So demanding, (safely) on behalf of all readers to post a few pics immediately before you continue to share about this e-Audi.

Congrats on getting the E-Tron. Do share more details of the car. And wishing you all a long happy ownership.

[jkrishnakj]

Condor is right. ��

Many many congratulations Pippoosh. What a car. I had a test drive last September. Just blew me away. And when I had to PDI my A6, the Audi team picked me from home in the Etron. Its a terrific one to drive. The way it pull ahead is a different joy. Bests to you!

[carthick1000]

Congrats on your e-Tron. It is indeed one of the best Electric SUVs to buy in India right now.

What a waste that BMW missed your business. I hope our very own Turbanator takes this up to BMW. Though I like BMWs, IMHO, e-tron 55 is in every way a better EV than the iX xdrive40. Combined with the dealer's non-chalance, you made the right decision.

Originally Posted by Pippoosh

[

3. Practicality: The Jag has a fixed glass roof that heats up like crazy in our weather - while in theory the AC can handle it, it eats up your battery fast. This is likely to be a problem for the Teslas too, as an when they come to India. Also, the boot has very little useable space because the spare tire sits in it. So you can pay 1 Cr+ and have as much boot space as a Suzuki Alto. The Merc has super low ground clearance because of the battery pack and with no-air suspension - so you are guaranteed to hit every other road hump in this country. The Audi suffers from none of these issues - it has a fully closeable sun-roof with blinds, boot space is enormous with the spare tire tucked away under the normal boot and with air suspension you get those critical extra 3 cm of ground clearance. Finally the Audi comes with a 22 KW home charger, that is 2x the speed of the other two - then it becomes a no-brainer really.

You have very well put together the practicality aspects in comparison with Jag and Merc. 22kW AC charging is a very useful feature, esp. for the bigger e-SUVs with larger battery packs (70kWh+).

[AKSarkar1]

Audi Mumbai needs to keep customers like you close who are the first adopters of the more 'novel' offerings. This is the 2nd EV ownership review on the forum today and both are Mumbai based! Really makes me happy that Mumbai is taking to EVs. I personally wouldn't have been brave enough to experiment with a luxury EV, so more power to you for that!

My parking garage at my workplace (BMC Headquarters) is also slowly being filled with official cars with green plates, just showcasing the slow takeover of EVs. Coincidentally, I had seen a blue E-tron in SoBo a couple of days ago, might have been you I guess?

If you ever run out of charge near the BMC HQ give me a ping, would be more than happy to lend our charger!

[Rossiter]

Originally Posted by Pippoosh

The BMW iX was sold out to the select few nobles in India and the dealer shooed us away like beggars without as much as a "let me note your contact details".

I don't know which dealer or city you tried in, but here in Bangalore, I had the same experience trying to get details on the iX.
I was (still am) looking to upgrade my 2019 Kona EV, and was deciding between the EQC, e-tron and the iX.
One day before the iX launch, I checked with Navnit who said they have no details regarding booking etc from BMW, and the next day there's an announcement saying bookings for the first batch have been closed!

Left a bad taste in my mouth.

Congrats on the e-tron. It's a very capable EV and once you go EV, you'll find it hard to drive an ICE car!

[thegman]

Congrats on the e-tron purchase Pippoosh! Having experienced one myself I can attest to the amazing build quality. Its currently the best option in the space and would upgrade my Q7 45TDI to the e-tron if it had 7 seats.

Drive Safe!

[Pippoosh]

[One month update]

So we finally took the e-Tron out of the city post junior's exams and all. Being the first time, thought we'd do a simple getaway to Khandala from Mumbai. Distance per google maps door-to-door was 84.2 Km each way.

And boy, what an INSANE experience We had read multiple US/UK reviews and tips and tricks about hypermiling in an EV, and folks, this is real in 2022 in India and not a theoretical concept anymore. Stay between 60 - 100 kmph, light foot on the pedal, auto drive mode, ACs at steady 23 degrees, sunroof shut.

At the start: 366 km range on full battery; Real world range is somewhere between 350 and 400 depending on how you drive. The range is estimated based on the last few km you drive, so this is fairly dynamic



At Khandala: 269 km range remaining. The ghats do eat up battery fast! So we used 97 km of range for 84 km of real world driving.



At the end: 298 km range!! Yes you saw that right, the battery power went UP via regen on the way back, more than compensating for excess draw uphill



Took us about 1h 45 min each way, mostly because of traffic at the Mumbai end of things and the tolls. Fun fact: The electricity bill for this trip nets out to ~Rs 100 only, while the tolls we paid added up to Rs 486 So for anyone thinking about an EV today, go for it!!

[Pippoosh]

[1000 km Update]

Took the E-Tron out to Pune from Mumbai and back for the weekend just for the long ride, and in the process crossed the 1k km mark.

En-route, did a pit-stop at the friendly Audi Pune showroom in Baner for a quick 1-hr juice up (not that we needed it, but thought it would be good to try), a nice cup of coffee and further guidance on some of the E-tron's more advanced settings. The pit-stop was enabled by our ever reliable Audi Mumbai South folks.

Expressway driving is a breeeeze. Its just so easy to overtake anything else on the road and you need the speed warning beeps otherwise its so easy to cross the speed limits all the time!

Real world range on highway is completely amazing, comes out to close to 450-460km on a full charge. We did the Pune-Mumbai run using just 68 km range for a 168 km drive, hypermiling like crazy.

Efficiency on the Pune-Khandala stretch is unbelievable, with the meter showing a real-world distance of 6.6 km/KWh (Yes one needs to change the way we think about mileage....km/KWh is the new "kitna deti hai" !)

Overall electricity cost (not counting the free juice at Audi Pune) would be in the region of Rs 400. As before, tolls are more expensive than the charge costs!!

[JediKnight]

Originally Posted by Pippoosh

Overall electricity cost (not counting the free juice at Audi Pune) would be in the region of Rs 400. As before, tolls are more expensive than the charge costs!!

Amazing vehicle. Wishing you many lakh kilometers of happy motoring.

I sometimes wonder as and when electric vehicles become widespread, the government may increase the cost of electricity for cars and start taxing it like it taxes fossil fuels at the moment.

This cost of electricity is basically meant for domestic household consumption.

[AutoSphere]

Originally Posted by Pippoosh

[This is my first attempt at a post on Team BHP, so if I inadvertently make a few goof-ups, please pardon those and point me in the right direction!]

So after a couple of months of R&D including feedback from my friends in other countries where EVs are more mainstream, and a few test drives in real Indian conditions we finally got home an Audi E-Tron 55 in Navarra Blue a couple of weeks ago.

.......

Real world range seems to be between 330 and 370 km, haven't done enough running to figure that out accurately yet.

Congrats on the eTron55, albeit a bit(??) late, and a very nice post on the entire selection process, especially the practical aspects related to air-conditioning that is so important for EV range.

Looking at the ranges that you achieved on your Pune trips, doing places like Mahabaleshwar should be possible.

Does Audi share any guidance on battery performance drop over time / total KM driven?