There are three pricing charts from three different locations; a national average, the cost in Boston, and the cost in San Francisco. The national average is to get a baseline cost analysis of electricity versus gas, while the latter two cities are used because their cost of electricity is higher, due to their higher rates of EV sales. These charts are based on EPA figures, which state that the average internal combustion engine vehicle in 2020 returned 25.7 mpg. Which would mean that, with an average vehicle, driving 100 miles requires about 3.9 gallons of gasoline. The baseline national average cost of driving 100 miles, based on that 3.9 mpg, has ranged from around $8.60 in 2019 to around $14.00 in 2022.

According to the EPA, the average electric vehicle sold in 2020 returned 97 MPGe (miles per gallon equivalent). The EPA’s MPGe rating is based on how far an electric vehicle can drive on 33.7 kWh, as that’s apparently the battery energy equivalent of one gallon of gasoline. Which means that, using the EPA’s 97 MPGe figure, the average electric vehicle requires 34.7 kWh of electricity to drive 100 miles. At that rate, the average national cost to drive an EV 100 miles ranged from around $4.25 in 2019 to $4.60 in 2022.

The data shows that the cost of charging an electric vehicle is drastically cheaper than the cost of refueling a gasoline car. Even in Boston and San Francisco, where the cost of electricity is higher, electric cars still win out. There was only one point, in Boston, in which both the cost of electricity and gasoline were the around the same and that was in the early months of 2020, during the peak of pandemic lockdown, when most Americans were home using electricity, not driving.

Read: What’s more important in an electric vehicle – Range or Charging Speed?

It’s clear that electric vehicles are significantly cheaper to charge and run than gasoline cars, especially at the moment (although gas prices will likely come down in the coming months). That cost scale tips further into EVs favor if you charge at home with solar.

Of course, one could argue that the entry cost of electric cars is higher than gasoline vehicles, which then tips the scale back toward ICE vehicles. However, the cost of EVs is coming down, as more and more automakers are offering affordable electric vehicles, such as Hyundai and Volkswagen. And when it comes to brands like BMW, in which many of its electric vehicles are priced similarly to their internal combustion combustion counterparts, the entry cost argument weakens.

Read: How to charge my electric car – The Ultimate Guide

Will electricity become more expensive as EVs become more and more common and ICE vehicles become rarer? Possibly. However, Jeffries analyst David Kelley calculated that EVs are around $4,700 cheaper to run than ICE cars, over their lifetimes, and that gap is going to increase even further over the next couple of years. At the moment, EVs are cheaper to run, the numbers don’t lie. Which makes switching to electrification more and more attractive, especially as gas prices continue to soar.

[Source: CNBC]

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This upgrade is applied across the board for Q4 e-tron models. The entry-level Audi Q4 e-tron models; the Q4 e-tron 40 and Q4 e-tron 40 Sportback; use a 51.5 kWh battery pack. While pricier models; Q4 e-tron 45, Q4 e-tron 50, and Q4 e-tron 50 Sportback; get a 76.6 kWh battery. With the new upgrade, the smaller battery models will charge from 5-80 percent SOC (State of Charge) in just 29 minutes. While the larger battery models will go from 5-80 percent SOC in 36 minutes.

The software update improves thermal battery management, to allow faster charging without overheating the battery. Without any mechanical changes, it’s interesting that existing vehicles can’t be updated to feature the same thermal management. As of right now, this update is only for Euro-market cars and won’t come to North American cars. So US Q4 e-tron customers will stay at 125 kW.

[Source: QuattroDaily]

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But which one is more important and what’s BMW’s position on this topic? In a call today with Frank Weber, BMW’s Head of R&D, the topic of electric range quickly came up. “If you look at the cars from 2025 to 2030, should I buy a 700 miles range BMW or should I expect shorter charging times?,” asked one journalist on the call.

“Maybe the first comment is on how the market is going to separate the different electric range requirements?,” Mr. Weber said. “For us, it is now becoming obvious. There will be a group of people who will say that 300 miles is sufficient. I don’t want more battery range nor I wanna pay more for it. Then, there is another group which takes the electric vehicle as the first car in the household. And they say: I don’t wanna worry about charging. I want to have reliably at least 400 miles in the future to go further without charging.”

Furthermore, the R&D boss says that “Fighting for the highest range is silly.” “We have millions of cars in our fleet and we can track exactly what is the daily commute and when people go for longer distances,” added Weber. “The picture shows that during 360 days, most people drive very low distances, less than 100 miles. In very few occasions, they go longer. In our view, adding more range is not how you convince people to buy an electric vehicle. By the way, there is also a physical limitation because when a vehicle has more than 3 tons, it suddenly becomes a truck.”

Of course, one playing devil’s advocate could argue that battery technology – read density and packaging – will significantly improve in the future which would lead to more electric range. “Yes, we have battery tech enhancements over time, but we need to be careful that these enhancements are not offset by more range requirements,” explained Weber. “Otherwise, battery-powered vehicles will not be affordable in the future. At the end, BMW will be a reasonable range between 300 and 500 miles.”

The second part of the electric equation is the charging capabilities and networks. And Mr. Weber believes that a charging network in a vehicle that has 750 miles it still depends on a well functioning fast charging network.

“Therefore, a range between 300 and 500 miles is where we will end up with most of our vehicles,” says Weber. “The 10 minutes charge becomes more important and those times will shrink even more and you can get to 100 miles of range within a few minutes. China is already developing over 300kW fast charging capabilities and that will show you what to expect in the future as far as charging.”

So will the future customer care more about their peace of mind and range, over charging networks accessibility and speed of charge, that remains to be seen, but it’s certain that BMW is taking a balanced approach to this complicated equation.

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What is by far the most important concern among EV buyers, both new and old, is range anxiety. Constantly doing the math in your head about how far you have left to go, how much battery the car says is remaining, how far to the nearest charge station and how long it’s going to take to charge is exhausting and, sometimes, scary. So we need to not only adapt our infrastructure to support EVs better but we ourselves also need to adapt and learn how to drive EVs, as well as what to prioritize when buying them.

When it comes to buying EVs, there are two variables that must be taken into consideration, potentially above all else; range and charge speed.

Range

Range is simple; how far the car can drive on a full battery charge. At the moment, the golden number seems to be 300 miles. While there are cars that can do more (Both Tesla and Lucid have 400 mile cars) and cars that do far less (Audi e-tron, BMW i3), 300 seems to be the number with which customers start to let go of their range anxiety. Even at 200 miles, customers are still doing that math in their head as they drive and that’s not an enjoyable experience.

Charge Speed

Charge speed is different but equally as obvious; it’s how fast the car can charge its batteries. However, there are different variables when it comes to rating the speed at which a car can actually charge.

First of which is its max charging speed, rated by the manufacturer. Charge speed is typically rated in kilowatts and most of the better EVs on the market are capable of 150 kW charging, which is quite good. Anything under 100 kW is now considered slow and anything over 150 kW is exceptionally fast. However, when it comes to anything over 150 kW, the availability of compatible charging stations becomes scarce. So the faster the charge speed the better but don’t expect to always be able to charge at the speed.

Next up is the sort of charger you can use. Sometimes you can find 150 kW fast chargers in the real world (most Tesla Supercharger stations have chargers rated at that speed or higher) and some home charging stations are rated at that speed. If you have access such chargers, great, but not all chargers are rated at 150 kW. So even if your car is, the charger you’re using might not be, thus requiring you to charge your car at a lower speed than it’s capable of, which will obviously take longer.

The last charge speed variable is the duration of max charge speed. This is possibly the most important aspect of charging a battery. Many new cars are rated at 150 kW charging but not many of them can charge at that speed for very long. For instance, certain Tesla models are rated at 250 kW charging, which is currently the fastest among production cars. However, it can only charge at 250 kW for a very short time, so charging at that speed doesn’t actually improve charge times all that much over a 150kW charger. This article from Car and Driver is a good example of that.

Charging Network

This really only pertains to one automaker but it’s still worth noting. While all EVs can use most chargers, and the Electrify America network is getting quite large, Telsas are the only EVs that can use Tesla’s Supercharging network. Due to the Supercharger network’s far greater availability, ease of use and high-speed chargers, it seems that Tesla has a massive advantage over the competition, which should factor heavily in your EV buying decision.

How to Choose Your EV

When choosing your EV, you have to figure out what you prioritize more; outright range or charge speed. For example, let’s say you commute relatively far for work but your job has a charging station you can use while you’re there. Outright range is likely more important because you have to drive far but you also have all day to charge. Or maybe you don’t have a far commute but are in your car often, throughout the day. The ability to charge quickly each and every time you stop might be more important than the actual distance you can drive in one shot.

The Audi e-tron is a good example of the latter. It doesn’t have a ton of range, with only 200-ish miles of range in the real world. However, it can charge at 150 kW from about 10-percent SOC (state of charge) to about 70-percent. So that’s a huge bandwidth of 150 kW charging, thus decreasing the time it takes to actually charge the vehicle.

While the Hyundai Kona EV is a good example of the former. It has more range than the e-tron, at 258 miles, but only charges at 75 kW. So it can go about 50 miles further, give or take real world factors, but charges slower.

Obviously those two cars aren’t going to be cross-shopped, as they’re priced in two completely different categories. But they prove that there’s a decision to be made about overall range, charge speed, the duration of that charge speed, the availability of chargers in your area and what sort of chargers they are.

So, to summarize it all, if you’re looking for an electric car, don’t just look at its overall range as an indicator of how good of an EV it’s going to be or what your experience is going to be like. There are other factors involved that can actually be even more important. In the end, figuring our which is more important really comes down to your specific situation and they all need to be considered before making a purchase.

[Source: QuattroDaily]

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Starting now, the Audi e-tron 55 and e-tron 55 Sportback will have the option to get a second on-board charger, which doubles the AC charging speed. By mid-2021, the lesser e-tron 50 models will get the same option.

To use this 22 kW charging option, customers must also buy Audi’s new charge connect system, which is suitable for home garage use. The charging system connect requires a three-phase 400-volt outlet to work properly and provide the 22 kW charging but that can be installed by a licensed electrician. While that might sound like a lot of trouble to go through, it could be worth it. With 22 kW charging from home, you can charge the e-tron from flat to full in under five hours.

The charging unit itself features a five-inch touchscreen and WiFi capability. So you can control it via either the touchscreen or the MyAudi mobile app. It can also be programmed to charge during off hours, when energy is cheapest, or even to use energy stored from solar panels.

Audi has also updated the steering wheel, to make semi-autonomous driving easier. With Audi’s current system, you have to actually apply some steering input to the wheel, while letting the car drive itself, every thirty seconds or so, to let the car know you’re still paying attention. With the updated steering wheel and system, the driver only has to lightly touch the wheel once a minute to keep the system engaged.

Additionally, new titanium gray five-spoke 22-inch wheels will also be available on the Audi e-tron S and e-tron S Sportback.

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