If you are fundamentally interested in clear structures and, with them, unambiguous statements, then you should now move on to the next chapter. Sorry, but there are some fundamental considerations now, but there is little chance of coming to an irrefutable conclusion. The electric drive is just not the in numbers clearly verifiable vehicle, but remains a mystery, especially if the numbers come from the manufacturer.

This starts with the specification of the battery capacity. Are e.g. the 95 kWh of the Audi e-tron now real usable, or is it only theoretically measurable, if the battery would be fully charged? However, it is not completely rechargeable. Or is it the energy that flows to it during charging, which is reached when it is completely rechargeable? Then, however, the conditions of the store would have to be determined, because this results in very different losses.

Such a madness! The latter would mean you only have to charge with lower efficiency, and by this the battery has more capacity. Of course, those who refuel particularly awkwardly come up with more fuel than the tank can hold. And yet, there are manufacturers who provide values from allegedly such sources. Why do most of them actually hide the kWh figure so much, where they can be enlarged almost at will?

Now let's take the information on the Audi e-tron as reasonably serious. Then the 95 kWh would be the so-called gross value. If you now enter the charge capacity, this value can obviously fluctuate between 5 and 15 percent. It is sometimes said to be particularly high during slow loading because the losses last so bigger, while other representations suggest more rapid charging due to the increased warming.

We have already mentioned in this book that consciously wrong values are used or concealed during loading. Audi emits a cornucopia of information about this car, but wastes no word about the battery capacity net. Imagine, in a car with an internal combustion engine, the manufacturer would not mention the tank size.

Speculation of journalists present at launch: Not usable are 4 to 5 percent above and 12 to 13 percent down. There remain, generously calculated, of 95 kWh only 80 kWh left. And how far does an e-car go to this reserve if it is completely drained and threatens to stop? Nobody knows.

The recuperation is regularly overestimated in the specifications of the manufacturers. For example, with this Audi up to 0,3 g are said to be possible. The first question mark: What actually happens when you brake more, then the largest possible recuperation remains, or is switched completely over to mechanical braking?

If we assume the former, then the braking distance from 100 km/h takes just 9 seconds. If you subtract the last 10 km/h, because there is generally no recuperation, only 8 s remain. If we start from the 220 kW specified by Audi as the maximum recuperation value, then only approx. 0.5 kWh can be recorded during the 8 s.

But there is not counted the time that the system needs to switch to charging. The question remains, how often you have to perform a nearly 130 m long braking or comparable in real traffic to reach significant amounts. Of course, this also applies to the motorway, where you then, no matter how strong, have to collect 130 m and more braking distances on their own. And at the same time, the Audi with its 0,3 g recuperates much better than the competition.

You will reply that recuperation is of course also effective when driving downhill. Although Audi claims that it contributes up to 30 percent (!) to the range, probably negligible that you then have to go back uphill. You can argue that the vehicle also has an internal combustion engine and delivers downhill at most zero fuel consumption. But it did not carry a 700 kg battery when driving up the hill.

Sure, if you let go of the gas pedal, it will be recuperated, but of course not the highest value by far. And of course you have to put a multiple of energy back into the system, whether you have braked or just keeping your foot of the gas pedal. In the city, the situation is more favorable. Who has actually argued that electric cars are heavier, but would gain more energy when braking? Especially since the Audi does not allow a selectable really strong recuperation by steering wheel paddles.

An electric car is also punished because of its weight. The e-tron weighs about 2,565 kg. After all, the ADAC has determined almost 29 kWh/100km instead of the 26.2 - 22.5 according to WLTP. The much-praised Jaguar iPace from 2018 gets it at 8°C outside temperature with interior heating and almost 130 km/h even more than 30 kWh/100km.

And as if that was not enough, the presentation of the audi is transferred to Abu Dhabi, at the end of the Persian Gulf, nearly 6,000 km from Ingolstadt, and they also carries all the journalists there. Kerosene consumption for issuing a CO₂ saving car. Why? Because it's warm enough for the batteries there. And to test the promised range up to 417 km the country is clearly too small.