Audi made headlines last week when it announced that its high-output electric chargers had gone live.
In total, the brand has set up 33 charging stations in partnership with Grid Cars. Four of them are 150kW (DC); five are 80kW (DC) and the remaining 24 are of the AC variety with 22kW outputs.
The 150kW chargers are on the N1 (Colesburg Caltex); N2 (Langeberg Mall): N3 (Tugela North Engen) and N4 (Riverside Mall). Audi envisages that this placement would facilitate long-distance travel, something we have plans to test with our long term RS E-Tron GT.
It has been three weeks since our first update on the vehicle. In that time, we seem to have acclimated to the routine of charging. Treat it like a smartphone, they say. And the advice makes sense: plug in at every opportune moment.
What has helped a great deal, is the presence of our own Grid Cars wallbox at the office in Johannesburg. The 6.6kW outlet allows convenient, carefree charging during office hours, leaving the building with a “full tank” indicating a range in excess of 400km.
Best not to find yourself in a rush, though. Given the 6.6kW capacity, it can take about 14 hours to charge the 93.4kWh battery from zero. With my general usage (30km commute home and back); I find that I usually plug in at the office station with battery life around 70%. Regular top-ups alleviate range anxiety.
About 5km from my home there is a Grid Cars DC installation with a 30kW output and another 7km down the same road an 80kW set-up. So far I have used the former on two occasions, the most recent being when I had a fairly lengthy day of travel, from Roodepoort to OR Tambo International Airport, back to Roodepoort, then to Centurion, with a final stop in Parktown. A total distance of 260km, doable given the total range of the Audi, but again, a top-up went a long way to assuage the conscience.
In terms of cost, you are looking at a maximum of R5.88 per kWh at public installations. It works out to just under R550 to fill up the Audi's battery.
So far, my mileage since taking delivery is 660km and average electricity consumption is 27.6kWh/100km. This week colleague Waldo Swiegers sent me a picture of an indicated 16.4kWh/100km after he collected the vehicle, nosing it back to his Tshwane home. We still have a month left with our GT and a number of exciting tests lined up. Stay tuned.
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