Skip to main content

Audi R&D Chief Says Batteries Cost More than $100/kWh

Audi’s newly minted head of R&D, Peter Mertens says that price of making EVs is still too high to make volume offerings possible.

At €100/kWh ($112), the money spent on batteries is still high enough, Mertens tells Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport, that Audi believes high-end models are currently the best way to turn a profit on battery powered vehicles.

“We opted for a top-down strategy because most buyers will be found there today in this segment,” said Mertens. “Currently, a kilowatt-hour costs about 100 euros depending on the model.”

That, unsurprisingly, means that next year’s e-Tron, an electric SUV that uses a 95 kWh battery, will be a premium offering for customers willing to shell out some cash.

With parent company VW working on bringing the cost of batteries down, and other manufacturers getting in on the fun, too, prices are likely to drop quickly. Still, Mertens thinks the price will have to drop substantially before an electric A3 equivalent can be made.

“Only when we come well below that price, will E-mobility in volume segments be interesting,” says Mertens.

For now, though, he says that the e-Tron will turn a profit, but that it won’t be as big as the profit from traditionally powered cars.

Mertens also added that the e-Tron will have some autonomous functions, but not level 5 (full autonomy) yet.

[source: Inside EVs]

The post Audi R&D Chief Says Batteries Cost More than $100/kWh appeared first on VWVortex.



from VWVortex http://ift.tt/2rXXRrl
via IFTTT
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Review: Saying Goodbye to the CC V6

For all its size and its global reach, Volkswagen is still, in many ways, a deeply human company. There was, for instance, the Bugatti Veyron an ego project if ever there was one. Then the purchase of Ducati, a move most called folly. And then there was the Phaeton, the Volkswagen that most folks can’t afford. Not only were these moves all strange, I’m sure that they made VW’s accountants furious. None of them made good business sense, but they were all deeply interesting and they all are evidence of the heart that beats at the center of VW. Among these follies is the CC, a car that everyone agrees is rakishly handsome, but that no one really wanted to buy. The car couldn’t last, but the world is brighter for its having been in it. With the approach debut of the Arteon, it seems like a good time to look back on its sadly departing predecessor. The version I drove, because I live in Canada, is a V6 Wolfsburg Edition, which apparently isn’t available in the States. Nor is the V6, not as...
Post a Comment
Read more

Waterfest Moves to Atco Dragway

Waterfest 24 will be held at Atco Dragway, in Atco, New Jersey. The summer event will take place at its new venue on July 21 and 22. Long held in Englishtown, New Jersey, the festival has been such a large part of the VW scene that the latest iteration of the Golf even comes with optional “Englishtown” wheels . The new venue, however, is an NHRA drag track a scant 52 miles southwest of Englishtown. The ¼ mile drag track opened in 1960, which makes it the oldest drag strip in New Jersey. The announcement came today on a social media post that announced the new location. Waterfest is North America’s largest VW/Audi show. As many 20,000 people show up for the annual show, making the second largest show in the world—with Worthersee being number one. 2018 will be Waterfest’s 24 th year in existence. The post Waterfest Moves to Atco Dragway appeared first on VWVortex . from VWVortex http://ift.tt/2GQjkuc via IFTTT
Post a Comment
Read more

European Passat GTE launches as Saloon and Variant

Volkswagen continues e-motoring offensive with plug-in hybrid Passat GTE delivers 218 PS and travels up to 50 kilometres on all-electric power First Volkswagen plug-in hybrid in the high-volume segment of large family cars The Volkswagen continues to electrify! Following the Golf GTE*, comes the next high-volume model with a plug-in drive system: this time the German carmaker is electrifying the new Passat GTE. Its launch marks the debut of a new generation of business and family cars – zero-emission vehicle and long-distance touring car all in one. A Volkswagen that combines the present and the future. A car that boasts not only one of the most progressive drive systems of our time, but also an array of innovative assistance and infotainment systems that is ground-breaking in the segment of large family cars. With superb system output of 160 kW / 218 PS, frugal NEDC consumption of just 1.6 l/100 km and 12.2 kWh/100 km (Variant: 12.4 kWh) and an all-electric range of up to 50 k...
Post a Comment
Read more