Audi’s level of refinement in its transmissions and its software makes its plug-in hybrid range offer a benchmark driving experience. A pleasant surprise to get behind the wheel of any of its models with the TFSIe badge.
We are in a transition moment –and of certain uncertainty- in which most of us still have doubts about what to buy. And not so much about what make and model, but rather about what technology mechanics. Continue with a gasoline or diesel, switch to a hybrid or plug-in hybrid, or dare with a pure electric car?
At that point is where the plug-in hybrid mechanics It seems to fit the bill. Because it maintains the keys and advantages of heat engine and it also introduces most of the advantages of a pure electric car. In other words, in a way the plug-in hybrid car has the best of both worlds. And it seems that it is the ideal technology for this transition to pure electric, which will still be around for a few years.
Audi has bet everything on the plug-in hybrid with its TFSIe range
Audi currently has the widest range of models with plug-in hybrid mechanics among premium manufacturers. The signature of the four rings has a multitude of models and bodies that, within its denomination TFSIe, have this technology that combines combustion and electricity. With different benefits at the level of power and autonomy, as is evident, but with some key points in common.
The Audi A3 and Audi Q3 they have the motor 1.4 TFSI, an electric motor of 80 or 85 kWh and a battery of 13.5 kWh of capacity; the A6, A7 and Q5 assemble the block 2.0 TFSI and the A8, Q7 and Q8 are based on the engine 3.0 TFSI. But all the latter have in common the same electric motor of 100 or 105 kW together with a lithium-ion battery with a capacity of 17.9 kWh.
And what will surely interest you is the overrun That means opting for a plug-in hybrid with respect to a conventional thermal, right? Well, own Audi has revealed the detail to us without any inconvenience: on average, in terms of its range, it is a extra cost of 2,500 euros. But the truth is that with the aid available at the moment this difference, in almost all cases, does not affect the client.
Debugging, refinement and convenience
At this point, few will have doubts about the convenience of PHEV technology, but even if we have decided on a plug-in hybrid, it will still be just as difficult to choose a specific brand and model. And to help you with this, in this test of the Audi plug-in hybrid range I have been able to experience some keys that can be useful to make your decisions.
The way Audi configures its plug-in hybrid technology could be defined this way: debugging and refinement. The great complication of plug-in hybrids is in offering good performance and autonomy features, but also in achieving a correct synergy between thermal and electrical technology. There is a lot of mechanics in this work, of course, but there is also a lot of software.
For me there are two fundamental points: the software, of course, but also the operation of the transmission Audi automatic. There are manufacturers who still have a challenge, in terms of transmission, to make a conventional thermal mechanics work smoothly and offer their maximum performance. AND Audi I had already mastered this point, no doubt, but the debugging level they have achieved in the behavior of their transmissions in their plug-in hybrids.
The transmission is capable of translating our intentions at all times in the most precise way possible, of achieving the maximum performance of both the thermal block and the electrical system, and of doing so in a imperceptible way. With a smoothness that makes us completely forget that we are operating on a physical machine.
And refering to software, my surprise was, above all, by the predictive system. When ‘we launched’ a route to the GPS of our Audi plug-in hybrid, the operation of the mechanics and electronics is conditions the route and its particularities, also those of the terrain and even those of the traffic –in real time-. All the information that the vehicle perceives, including that of the environment –also in real time- they serve for handle the set propulsion and energy regeneration.
This simply means that Audi with plug-in hybrid mechanics are constantly collecting data so that acceleration and braking operate as efficiently as possible. The car works in a smart way so that we can achieve maximum autonomy. And this, believe me, you have to try it for yourself because the level of debugging is such that it is really difficult to tell it without losing nuances.