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Audi A3 E-Tron goes carbon neutral with German green electricity deal

Audi is proving that the fresh water flowing through the European Alps isn't just for bottling and drinking anymore. The German automaker struck a deal with Hamburg-based LichtBlick to offer buyers of the Audi A3 Sportback E-Tron a chance to get their electrical juice from all renewable-energy sources. That means all the power going into charging stations can come from hydroelectric power from Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The nuts and bolts part of it is that users pay the equivalent of about $12.30 a month plus 37 cents per kilowatt hour for the service. And LichtBlick is indeed legit, as it has been certified by TUV Nord for having at least one third of its power come from hydroelectric plants that are were built less than six years ago. Audi is looking to boost sales from a model it unveiled at last year's Geneva Motor Show. The car pairs a turbocharged 1.4-liter four-cylinder engine with an electric motor that combines for 250 horsepower. Most importantly, the A3 E-Tron gets a combined fuel economy rating of 157 miles per gallon. And while that figure comes from the more generous European driving cycle, it's impressive nevertheless. Check out Audi's press release below and read the Autoblog Quick Spin here. Audi and LichtBlick offer green electricity CO2-neutral mobility with Audi energy TUV-certified green electricity from the energy provider LichtBlick As an accompaniment to the market launch of the A3 e tron*, Audi is offering customers in Germany green electricity – Audi energy. The cooperating partner is the Hamburg energy provider LichtBlick SE. With Audi energy, the A3 e tron is totally emission-free when operated electrically. The power all comes from renewable energy sources and is generated exclusively at hydro-electric power stations in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The Audi A3 e-tron can be recharged when parked at your home with Audi energy. At the same time, the entire household is supplied with eco-friendly electric power. Audi energy is currently available for a basic monthly fee of EUR 8.95 and 26.76 cents per kilowatt-hour. The origin and quality of the green electricity are certified by TUV Nord. The "OK power" seal of quality also confirms the expansion of power generation from renewable sources: at least one-third of the electricity comes from hydro-electric power plants less than six years old. Providers of this green electricity do not make use of federal subsidies pursuant to the German Renewable Energy Act (EEG).

Audi A5 and S5 freshen up for 2017

UPDATE: A previous version of this story mischaracterized the 2017 S5's engine configuration. The article has been updated. Well, here's the new Audi A5 and S5. They look a lot like the old ones, but just a tiny bit better. In other words, the redesigned coupes received the same treatment as their four-door counterparts, the A4 and S4. While the German press materials mention both gas and diesel engines, we expect the A5 to carry on in the US with petrol power only. Like the current A5, a 2.0-liter, turbocharged four-cylinder will serve as the base engine, but will probably get a similar power bump as the A4 – Audi hasn't released official figures yet. The four-door had its base output bumped from 220 horsepower and 258 pound-feet of torque to 252 hp and 273 lb-ft of torque. The S5 is a more interesting proposition than the S4. Where the old S5's 3.0-liter, supercharged V6 produced 333 hp and 325 lb-ft of torque, the new, turbocharged, 3.0-liter six-cylinder pumps out 354 ponies, according to the global press materials. That figure, fans of the old 4.2-liter V8-powered S5 will note, is identical to the original S5 that came out for model-year 2008. Torque figures aren't available yet, but we'd bet on at least a small increase in torque. Still, the increase in power is good for a 4.7-second run to 62 miles per hour, a 0.2-second improvement over the current car's 0-60 time. Audi claims it will offer the A5 with both six-speed manuals and seven-speed dual-clutch transmissions, but we wouldn't be so sure about that stick here in the US. The only available gearbox on the A4 is a seven-speed S-Tronic – coupes are inherently more sporting than sedans, but we aren't sure that's justification for Audi to offer a manual-trans A5 here in the US. Audi only mentions an eight-speed automatic for the S5. So no, the German press materials aren't a good indicator of the US-market A5. What we can rely on, of course, are the official images. The original A5/S5 was a handsome car, but Audi's designers have done a swell job styling the 2017 model. It looks good, and is somehow even more refined than last year's car. Audi's new corporate grille works well on a coupe body, although the powerful creases in the hood might be a little too powerful. The tail is lovely, like a prettier A3. The bodies are better looking, but they're also lighter and more aerodynamic, too. The A5's coefficient of drag is down to a slippery 0.25, while Audi's engineers lipo'd 132 pounds of fat.

Audi kills off its 420-hp four-cylinder engine project

Audi's supercar-slapping, fire-breathing four-cylinder concept engine will remain just that, with Autoblog confirming that it has been internally killed off. Speaking at the launch of the TT RS, the engineering boss of Audi's Quattro GmbH division, Stephan Reil, said the Volkswagen Group had stopped all development of the 420-horsepower, 2.0-liter four it showed in the 2014 TT Quattro Sport Concept car (above). Despite previous assurances that Quattro had roles for both the EA888-based engine and Audi's wildly charismatic 2.5-liter, five-cylinder motor, post-Dieselgate reality has killed the smaller engine. "The 400-horsepower EA888 engine is dead," Reil said. The EA888 engine was conceived and developed by the same man behind AMG's powerhouse 2.0-liter four. Friedrich Eichler left AMG to become the Volkswagen Group's gasoline engine development go-to guy, and he was confident the 420-hp engine could be turned into a production car quickly, as was then-Audi development boss, Ulrich Hackenberg. It was even suggested that because the EA888 engine family bolted straight into the Volkswagen Group's ubiquitous MQB small-car architecture, the little powerhouse could be cheaply and quickly dropped into any of the company's cars that needed an image boost. Since then, Quattro has elevated the five-cylinder motor, switching it to an all-alloy block with a magnesium oil pan to cut down its weight while boosting its power and torque levels. Where the four-cylinder engine was shown with 420 hp and 332 lb-ft of torque, the production version of the TT RS's new five-cylinder engine totes 400 hp and 354 pound-feet of torque. The smaller engine's proponents claimed a 0-62 mph acceleration figure of just 3.7 seconds for the concept TT that carried it, and it might not be a coincidence that the all-new TT RS claims exactly the same figure. The 2.0-liter motor had a torque peak that arrived at 2,400 rpm and began to taper off at 6,300 rpm, while its power apexed at 6,700 rpm, thanks in part to a turbocharger that could feed it up to 1.8 bar of air. Flip to the TT RS' data and you're looking at more torque at lower revs and a touch less power, but at higher revs. That's not a lot of wriggle room for the concept engine to operate, especially when the perceived value of the five-cylinder engine is higher than the four, and the four's development and production costs would be higher than the five's.