The All-Electric Vehicle Craze – Is Audi Next?

Audi A3 e-tron
Photo Credit: Sarah Larson

Not so fast.

In the recent news/craze of BMW’s i3, the all-electric vehicle, Audi plans to do the same in the near future. So what’s the current holdup, you ask? Apparently, it’s improved battery technology.

While Audi has had several e-tron concept cars in the past, for now, Audi seems happy with it’s A3 e-tron, which is a plug-in hybrid that can travel up to 585 miles with the both the electric and gas components. On pure electricity, it can travel about 30 miles before needing to juice back up.

Chairman of the Board of Management of AUDI AG, Rupert Stadler, told the Wall Street Journal that once battery technology is improved, Audi aims to center more on electric-only vehicles.

“As soon as new batteries enable farther distances at reasonable cost and weight, then in that second phase of electric vehicles we will also have pure electric cars on offer,” said Stadler.

But, if you just can't wait until Audi’s all-electric vehicle (because who knows how long that will be) and want a hybrid model in the meantime, the A3 e-tron goes on sale in early 2014.

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