US A3 e-tron early adopters

[McRob]

The e-tron will be my first EV and first Audi. I am starting this thread to encourage fellow e-tron to share their experiences with this new model.

[McRob]

I wanted to have my garage ready to charge our e-tron when it arrives in a couple of weeks and have struggled to get detailed information from the audiusa web site or any other web site/discussion forum. The audiausa website points you to Bosch's (Audi and Bosch have partnered to provide the charging systems) web site which only allows you to schedule a free estimate for installing a charging cabinet. Being a Do-It-Yourselfer I don't want to pay an electrician to install the charging system.

When I ordered my e-tron I went to the dealer's parts department so see what they know about the charging cabinet. The parts guys were very friendly, had just been through training but didn't know anything about the charging cabinet. Initially they told me to go to the Bosch web site. I told them the Bosch web site says to get the parts at the dealership. They searched their parts database and only came up with a combination charging cabinet and control unit (the oval shaped charging box that comes with the e-tron) for $695. We then looked at an e-tron the dealer had in stock and found the car comes with the following:

Vehicle Charging Cable with J1772 connector

Control Unit

120V Cable/Plug

240V Cable/Plug (with a NEMA 6-50 Plug

I really wanted to keep the control unit that came with the e-tron in the car and have a permanently mounted one in the garage. Since it was going to be at least $695 for the Audi parts (with no guarantee that included everything you need) I decided to order a Level 2 charge from Clipper Creek (http://www.clippercreek.com/store/pr...ema-6-50-plug/). It has the same NEMA 6-50 plug as the Audi charger and a 25' vehicle charging cable. The unit was $620 including shipping. This way I can always use the 240V cable/plug that came with the e-tron if something happens to the Clipper Creek charger. Also, the Clipper Creek unit will work with any EV so we have some flexibility for any cars we decide to get in the future.

[rfortson]

So, how's your e-tron doing? Did you put in a charging station? I'm just using the 110 outlet in my garage and charging overnight. I'd like to put in a 220 outlet at some point for a quicker charge, but to be honest, I think I'd have found that useful about 1 or 2 times so far in the 6 weeks I've had the car.

I'm able to drive mainly in EV mode during the week (short commute) and then I might burn a little gas on the weekends. Still at half a tank after 500+ miles and filling up a month ago. Gotta love that!

PA010161 by Russ, on Flickr