CHARGING IN

Is the Audi e-tron the best-yet sign of the changing times?

- Kartik Ware

As I slotted reverse on the immaculately finished drivemode selector, a sound filled the surroundings. It was a deep hum that became louder the harder I prodded the ‘throttle’, and I couldn’t help thinking that its electronic character would be right at home in a Daft Punk concert. This is definitely one way for a person to establish a connection with a machine; you get used to sounds and then begin to prefer them over others, after all. And it was encouraging to observe that the Audi e-tron knew this. People have been making cars for over a hundred years now, but with electric vehicles, we’re about to hit a kind of reset.

As such, the sounds of internal combustion that we’ve grown up with, and are attached to, will eventually ebb away to become faint echoes in history. Given the enthusiasm of governments and manufacturers to add more batteries to people’s lives, it’s a fair guesstimate to assume this will come to pass in the next 20 years. And every time I drive an electric car, it’s the direction of the future I’m steering. The future of not only a prominent manufacturer, in this case, but that of an entire industry. And I can only go along for the ride in all its silence. Except this time.