2022 Audi E-Tron GT, RS E-Tron Revealed: An Alternative Take On Taycan
The 2022 Audi E-Tron GT and RS E-Tron are the latest all-electric luxury sedans to promise impressive performance and usable daily range.
www.motor1.com
If you've read our deep dive of the Porsche Taycan, the E-Tron GT will sound pretty similar. There's a 93.4-kilowatt-hour lithium-ion battery pack, an 800-volt electrical architecture that allows rapid recharging – five to 80 percent capacity in 23 minutes – an electric motor on each axle, and a rear-mounted two-speed automatic. Base models pack 469 horsepower (350 kilowatts) and 464 pound-feet (630 Newton-meters) while the RS variant thunders silently down the road with 590 hp (440 kW) and 612 lb-ft (830 Nm). Like the E-Tron crossover, the GT has an overboost function that temporarily increases output to 522 and 637 hp, respectively.
Go with the standard E-Tron GT, which comes in two trims, and 60 miles per hour arrives in 3.9 seconds while carrying on to 152 mph – the RS model does the deed in (a possibly conservative) 3.1 and will reach 155 mph. Critics will be quick to point out that the E-Tron GT is slower to 60 than every version of the Porsche Taycan, aside from the new rear-drive, single-motor model.
The 4S hits 60 in 3.8 seconds, the Turbo does it in 3.0, and the Turbo S promises 2.6 seconds to 60. And on the Tesla side of the ball, the RS matches the Model S Long Range's 3.1-second sprint, but nothing at Audi (or Porsche, for that matter) can match the claimed sub-2.0-second sprint of the new Model S Plaid.
Tesla stans will similarly criticize the E-Tron GT's promised range. EPA estimates aren't available yet, but Audi predicts the standard models will cover 238 miles per charge, while the RS should net 232. That said, if Porsche is any indication, these estimates may be dramatically lower than the real-world range. The Taycan 4S, after all, has a history of covering far more than its 227-mile EPA estimate.