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After announcing a massive plan of 44 billion euros of investment in the coming years to finance the automobile of the future, Volkswagen had to make visible its desire to reconquer. It will be done in a few weeks with the launch of two very promising electric cars: the Taycan Porsche and the Audi E-Tron GT.
Based on the same chassis, and adopting the same battery of 100kW, these two machines intend to become references in this market segment. Upscale certainly, but promises to usher in technologies that will gradually integrate the entire production of the group.
Tesla still in the line of fire
The recent history of the electric car has been enamelled with real breakthrough products. Renault-Nissan with Zoe and Leaf have made it popular and relatively accessible. Tesla will have opened up the market of high performance and efficiency. Audi and Jaguar have entered the electric SUV market with E-Tron and IPace. Remained that of the real sporting and high-end products, that want to invest together Porsche and Audi, with new products of reference.
In this case, it will be sedans, 4 doors and 4 seats, which must remain practical and comfortable, to compete with the only reference of the moment, the Model S Tesla. And even if there is still some way to Volkswagen to compete autonomously with the American (about 600-700 km for the Model S), the Taycan Porsche announces itself as a serious competitor. "It will have a range of 400 kilometers," says Oliver Blume, the boss of Porsche. Its price, between 80,000 and 90,000 euros, is also studied to constitute a real alternative to Tesla.
Full in 20 minutes!
"But it's mostly on the load side that we've made dramatic progress," adds Oliver Blume. In conjunction with BMW, Daimler, Ford and of course Audi, Porsche is developing the world's fastest charging systems, including Tesla. With these terminals, capable of delivering power at 800 volts, and accepting up to 350kW of power, "You can charge your Taycan to 80% in just 20 minutes," says Oliver Blume. "In addition, our terminals will be equipped with a high-speed charging solution, which will allow you in 4 minutes only to benefit from 100 km of additional autonomy".
A charging time that begins, very gradually of course, to get closer to a full tank of gas, or at least a manageable break on a conventional road trip. And these innovations are likely to really change the game in terms of choice of electric energy, in this segment of high-end sports, and gradually on more affordable segments.
Towards the 1,000 kms of autonomy?
With the same technical features as Porsche's Taycan, the Audi E-Tron GT will be unveiled at the Los Angeles Auto Show next weekend. Location cleverly chosen, especially as Audi is in the middle of the seduction campaign on the American market, with charging systems developed with Amazon for the SUV E-Tron, which will be launched next year.
Volkswagen may be the embodiment of his efforts to try to bounce back, while the giant continues to bear the brunt of dieselgate. With massive investments and an acceleration of technological research (perhaps via an alliance with Ford in the coming months), the German giant via Porsche and Audi wants to mark its first tangible points on the automobile of the future.
"Over the next decade, no doubt, we will develop an electric car capable of driving 1,000 kilometers, and charging times will be further reduced," says Oliver Blume. A commercial success of Taycan and E-Tron GT will confirm that the electric revolution of the automobile is accelerating.
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