What The Journey Of Going Electric Means For The Automotive Industry

Audi Singapore Managing Director Mr. Markus Schuster discusses what the journey of going electric means for the automotive industry

- Zara Zhuang

Late this August, a convoy of three Audi e-tron 55 quattro departed Lake Bled in Slovenia bound for Amsterdam, and traveled 1,600km within 24 hours through Austria, Italy, Liechtenstein, Switzerland, Germany, France, Belgium and Luxembourg, across terrain that ran the gamut from the Alps to the banks of the Rhine. But instead of refueling along the way with gas, the cars recharged on direct current — the battery-electric car, the first fully electric model from Audi, impressed on its European grand tour.

The full-size SUV was presented in September 2018 in San Francisco during The Charge. Powered by a lithium-ion battery, with two electric motors producing up to 300kW, it boasts a top speed of 200kmh, a range of more than 400km in the WLTP driving cycle, and no local emissions.

Though the first electric car from Audi was the A3 Sportback e-tron, a plug-in hybrid vehicle unveiled in 2014 and dropped from the lineup last year, the e-tron represents a new direction for Audi: The company plans to introduce 30 fully battery electric or hybrid models to market by 2025, accounting for a 40-percent share of sales. Since e-tron’s launch in the European market in March, nearly 10,000 e-tron cars have been delivered to customers, and Audi expects to welcome the first e-tron in Singapore by early 2020; already it has been receiving inquiries locally from existing clients and interested individuals.