by Liz Turner
The tide of cars using electric power is finally turning from a drip to a steady flow. The e-tron (nothing to do with Jeff Bridges) is Audi’s first. It’s a plug-in hybrid with a small petrol engine and a battery working in partnership. It’s chic and sporty, but boasts fuel consumption of 188 miles per gallon.
Some manufacturers have deliberately made their EVs look radical, to announce their green credentials with a megaphone. Audi has taken the opposite tack. The e-tron is Normcore. It has some discreet badging and unique attractive wheels, but from across the street, it looks like any another A3 Sportback. Its electric plug is cleverly hidden behind the four rings badge on its nose.
It doesn’t demand any compromises to drive. You can play with its four hybrid modes if you choose, or simply let the car to sort itself out. You don’t lose your luggage area, either – the lithium-ion battery sits beneath the load floor, but doesn’t steal much space.
Playing the mileage game…
We journalists gathered to try it at the Rockcliffe Hall hotel near Darlington, and I took some time out to jellify my senses in the incredible spa. (I’d never heard of a Tepidarium or a Tropicarium before, but my pores appreciated both.)
The natural habitat of an electric vehicle is the city, but the next morning, we set loose on some incredible roads over hills and moors, past historic mines and puzzled sheep.
The e-tron can drive for up to 35 miles on electricity alone, or it can run on petrol, or a mix of both. Our car had been plugged in over night and was fully charged. I chose to start the drive using the engine and electric motor in partnership, the electricity giving the 1.4-litre engine a boost as we enjoyed the roads and the views. The battery pack in the back is positioned ahead of the rear axle, so the weight remains evenly distributed and the car’s handling remains balanced. The ride is rather hard, which helps the agility, if not your spine.
The double fuel gauge ahead of the wheel showed our electric power dwindling, but I wanted to save enough juice for our drive through Gateshead to the suitably futuristic Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art. So I selected ‘charge’. In this mode, the car harvests electricity as you brake, or coast. It still felt nippy, but I was aware of the pace falling off as soon as I took my foot off the accelerator.
The electric tally edged up slowly, and like a gamer captivated by angry birds, I found my entire concentration focussed the big number indicating how many miles we’d ‘earned’. I was trying to drive in a way that would make it creep upwards, but was surprised to find it did best on a section of motorway.
Once we’d stored 10 miles’ worth of power, I was able to select ‘hybrid hold’, which stores the electricity until you want it. So, once we headed towards Gatesheqad Quay, I went back to ‘Hybrid use’ again and, because we were driving slowly, the engine turned itself off. and we tip-toe-ed into the city on electric power.
Green or geek?
The A3 e-tron is definitely fun. A geek would play endlessly with the modes. A company car driver would appreciate its benefit-in-kind tax rate of just 5%. Anyone wanting to go green will get a fuzzy feeling from Audi’s deal with Ecotricity, a company that gets all its power from solar and wind power. If you sign up for your domestic supply, you’ll get 1,000 free miles for the car.
It is pricey, though. Even with the £5k green-car grant, the car we were driving had a sticker price of almost £35k and, with its stack of options, would leave the showroom closer to £40k. Audi only expects to sell around 5,500. But it is a beginning, others will follow, and you can expect the wave to soon become a surge tide.
Audi A3 Sportback e-tron 1.4 TFSI S tronic (105 PS)
Price £34,950, as tested £40,025
Engine 1.4-litre petrol engine, plus electric motor and lithium-ion battery system
Economy 188mpg
CO2 39g/km