Electric portfolio
A clear course towards electric mobility
Audi believes in electric mobility. The brand intends to electrify its entire model range in the coming years. The introduction of the Audi Q6 e-tron and the Audi A6 e-tron in 2024 mark the next step of this transformation. Next on Audi’s ambitious e-roadmap: By 2027, it plans to have electrified all its core segments, and by 2033, to have phased out the production of vehicles with combustion engines. For the electrification of its models, Audi is leveraging Group-wide synergies and has multiple cross-brand platforms at its disposal. The brand with the four rings’ actions promoting sustainable electric mobility include expanding green power and its own charging infrastructure, for example the Audi charging hubs.
“In the coming years, we will fundamentally strengthen and rejuvenate our portfolio with numerous new models – again bringing our idea of Vorsprung durch Technik to the street. Our groundbreaking electric cars are the focus of this transformation,” says Gernot Döllner, CEO of AUDI AG. According to Döllner, the company’s early commitment to electric mobility has led to a clear plan for leading the technological shift. The e-roadmap, Döllner says, stipulates the gradual phasing out of the production of vehicles with combustion engines, among other steps. “Ultimately, our entire portfolio will be switched over to electric mobility. Along the way, we are positioned robustly and flexibly for the coming years with our new electric cars and a completely new generation of combustion models and plug-in hybrids,” says Gernot Döllner.
A constantly growing product range of fully electric models
Audi‘s focus on electric mobility and established product portfolio of fully electric models has already brought the company initial successes on its path towards electric mobility. For example, the brand with the four rings has seen continued strong growth in deliveries of fully electric vehicles in recent years. In 2023, Audi delivered more than 178,000 electric models to customers, a year-on-year increase of 51 percent. Audi is responding to the growing demand for electric mobility with a continuously expanding product range. This includes the pioneering Audi e-tron, launched in 2018, and its successor, the Audi Q8 e-tron, which has been rolling off the line since December 2022. The brand‘s first fully electric production model, the Audi e-tron featured high charging performance, long range, and sophisticated aerodynamics, right from launch. In 2021, Audi introduced a compact SUV with the Audi Q4 e-tron series. Also that year, the all-electric Gran Turismo Audi e-tron GT was launched.
Today, the Audi Q6 e-tron is setting new standards in terms of performance, range, charging, and handling, thanks to its 800-volt architecture, powerful electric motors, and a modern battery and charging management system.
The start of production at the end of 2023 paved the way for numerous other new model launches. By 2027, the brand with the four rings plans to offer a fully electric vehicle in all core segments. The Audi Q6 e-tron is based on the newly designed Premium Platform Electric (PPE), which was developed as a joint project between Audi and Porsche. With the Audi A6 e-tron, the premium brand will also be the first in the Group to offer a low-floor model on the PPE.
Platform strategy leverages synergies within the Group
The PPE is one of several cross-brand vehicle platforms and an example of Group-wide synergies. The platform was developed to bring high-volume, technologically advanced models to market. It is a modular platform system for mid-range and luxury models that was designed exclusively for battery electric drive systems. The new architecture is the next technological step for Audi on the brand’s path toward electric premium mobility. In terms of vehicle geometry, interior space, and weight distribution, the platform allows Audi to harness all the benefits of a fully electric vehicle.
The PPE harmonizes the technical substructure while remaining extremely flexible: Its highly scalable architecture can be used to build both low-floor and high-floor vehicles. The platform strategy allows the brand to optimally leverage synergies within the Volkswagen Group while also reducing development costs. At the same time, Audi is using the flexibility of the PPE to give future fully electric models their own unique character and Audi’s typical DNA.
PPE models with excellent efficiency and range
The platform’s systematic design for electric vehicles delivers benefits in terms of weight and package. What’s more, the components have been designed specifically for an electric drive system and fine-tuned to work perfectly together. The result is a compact and highly efficient drive and battery system. The efficiency measures for the new electric motors for the PPE alone result in 40 kilometers more range compared to the first-generation Audi e-tron. The electric motors for the PPE take up about 30 percent less space than the engines in the Audi Q8 e-tron, and weigh about 20 percent less.
With the launch of the PPE, Audi is now the only brand in the Volkswagen Group that uses all four available electric platforms, affording it maximum flexibility. For example, the Audi Q4 e-tron and Q4 Sportback e-tron are based on the Volkswagen Group’s modular electric drive system (MEB). For the Audi e-tron, Audi uses Porsche’s J1 platform, while the Audi Q8 e-tron and Q8 Sportback e-tron are based on the modular longitudinal matrix (MLB evo).In addition, the newly developed Premium Platform Combustion (PPC) ensures that vehicles with modern combustion engines and plug-in hybrids can remain competitive throughout their entire service life.
Audi is preparing all sites for electric mobility
Based on the decision to phase out combustion engines, Audi is currently taking steps to prepare all its locations for the production of electric cars. Today, the brand with the four rings is already producing its fully electric models at the Audi Brussels plant, at Böllinger Höfe in Neckarsulm, and at the multibrand plant in Zwickau, in addition to launching the Audi Q6 e-tron in Ingolstadt. The company’s headquarters in Ingolstadt is the first Audi site in Germany with its own battery assembly facility. Before that, the Audi Group had opened its first battery manufacturing facility at the Brussels site in Belgium.
The brand with the four rings is using the modifications made in the process of electrification to comprehensively reinvent its global production network. At the same time, Audi is optimizing its production processes. To make production of the Q6 e-tron series in Ingolstadt sustainable and efficient, Audi has integrated production areas such as the body shop for the PPE into existing structures.
The Audi Q6 e-tron is also the first fully electric model to roll off the line in Ingolstadt, where it is produced with net zero emissions1. Following Brussels (Belgium, 2018) and Győr (Hungary, 2020), the headquarters is now the third Audi plant to systematically reduce carbon emissions. Audi plans to achieve net carbon neutrality at all of its locations worldwide by 2025.
With the establishment of the Audi FAW NEV Company Ltd., a state-of-the-art factory for fully electric models, also based on the PPE, is being built in the Chinese megacity of Changchun and will be completed by the end of 2024. As the Group’s newest production site, the plant will set new standards in digitalization, efficiency, and sustainability. With an annual capacity of more than 150,000 vehicles, the plant, once completed, will play a central role in the continued electrification of the product portfolio for the Chinese market.
Systematic expansion of a holistic ecosystem
Audi is systematically expanding its holistic, digital ecosystem around its fully electric premium vehicles. An important pillar of this ecosystem is the charging offering from the brand with the four rings, which the company has identified as a success factor for electric mobility. For this reason, Audi works as intensively to expand the use of green power as it does to build a premium charging infrastructure.
Audi charging, for example, offers customers on the road access to one of the largest charging networks in Europe, with around 600,000 charging points in 29 countries. The service includes charging stations from the provider IONITY in addition to hubs. The latter are being gradually expanded as part of a sophisticated charging concept that aims to seamlessly integrate electric mobility into everyday life.
The Audi charging hubs are premium quick-charging stations that run on used and refurbished lithium-ion batteries. These so-called second-life batteries come from Audi’s test vehicles and help reduce the strain on local grid capacity.
1 Audi understands net-zero carbon emissions to mean a situation in which, after other possible reduction measures have been exhausted, the company offsets the carbon emitted by Audi’s products or activities and/or the carbon emissions that currently cannot be avoided in the supply chain, manufacturing, and recycling of Audi vehicles through voluntary offsetting projects carried out worldwide. In this context, carbon emissions generated during a vehicle’s utilization stage, i.e., from the moment of delivery to the customer, are not considered.
As of: March 2024
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Stefan Grillneder
