Buy an Audi Electric SUV, Get a Charging Station Installed
*By Amanda Weston*
Audi just entered the EV ring with the launch of e-tron, the company's first all-electric vehicle.
For Filip Brabec, the VP of product management of Audi of America, the car has the potential to attract pretty much anyone.
"This is a cool car, and we want to sell a cool car, and we believe that it really appeals to a broad audience of customers," he said Tuesday in an interview on Cheddar.
Audi unveiled the [e-tron](https://www.audiusa.com/models/audi-e-tron), complete with two electric motors, on Monday.
An optional "Driver Assistance Package" can detect driving conditions and adapt to dangerous situations like construction zones. It also automatically adjusts to the current speed limit and slows down at corners. A parking assist feature steers the car into parallel parking spaces.
Audi also announced the company is partnering with Amazon for its new release, in what will be the e-commerce giant's foray into the auto market.
Amazon Home Services will give drivers a fully-digital experience for in-home charging installations. The collaboration is designed to make setting up home charging easier and more interconnected.
Customers can now reserve an e-tron ahead of delivery in mid-2019. The SUV starts at $74,800. The most expensive model, the first edition, has a price tag of $86,700.
By comparison, Tesla's Model X has a starting price just below $80,000.
But Brabec said the e-tron comes with more bells and whistles.
"In reality, what you have there for $74,800 is essentially a fully-loaded car, and a car that really has all the features that are expected in this segment when it comes to leather seats, ventilated seats, sunroof, navigation system, you name it," Brabec said. "It's all in there."
Brabec said customers who end up choosing an Audi over other models are usually seeking peace of mind.
"This is why \[consumers are\] going to a company that has a very robust history and very robust engineering team," he said.
Audi has over 300 dealers that service the cars and ensure full, safe performance, he added.
Audi plans to release the e-tron by 2020. The company anticipates about 30 percent of its customers in the U.S. will go electric by 2025.
For full interview [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/audi-launches-first-all-electric-vehicle).
A Michigan judge is putting sponges in the hands of shoplifters and ordering them to wash cars in a Walmart parking lot when spring weather arrives. Genesee County Judge Jeffrey Clothier hopes the unusual form of community service discourages people from stealing from Walmart. The judge also wants to reward shoppers with free car washes. Clothier says he began ordering “Walmart wash” sentences this week for shoplifting at the store in Grand Blanc Township. He believes 75 to 100 people eventually will be ordered to wash cars this spring. Clothier says he will be washing cars alongside them when the time comes.
The State Department had been in talks with Elon Musk’s Tesla company to buy armored electric vehicles, but the plans have been put on hold by the Trump administration after reports emerged about a potential $400 million purchase. A State Department spokesperson said the electric car company owned by Musk was the only one that expressed interest back in May 2024. The deal with Tesla was only in its planning phases but it was forecast to be the largest contract of the year. It shows how some of his wealth has come and was still expected to come from taxpayers.
At 100 years old, the Goodyear Blimp is an ageless star in the sky. The 246-foot-long airship will be in the background of the Daytona 500 — flying roughly 1,500 feet above Daytona International Speedway, actually — to celebrate its greatest anniversary tour. Even though remote camera technologies are improving regularly and changing the landscape of aerial footage, the blimp continues to carve out a niche. At Daytona, with the usual 40-car field racing around a 2½-mile superspeedway, views from the blimp aptly provide the scope of the event.
You'll just have to wait for interest rates (and prices) to go down. Plus, this deal's a steel, the big carmaker wedding is off, and bribery is back, baby!
It’s a chicken-and-egg problem: Restaurants are struggling with record-high U.S. egg prices, but their omelets, scrambles and huevos rancheros may be part of the problem. Breakfast is booming at U.S. eateries. First Watch, a restaurant chain that serves breakfast, brunch and lunch, nearly quadrupled its locations over the past decade to 570. Fast-food chains like Starbucks and Wendy's added more egg-filled breakfast items. In normal times, egg producers could meet the demand. But a bird flu outbreak that has forced them to slaughter their flocks is making supplies scarcer and pushing up prices. Some restaurants like Waffle House have added a surcharge to offset their costs.
William Falcon, CEO and Founder of Lightning AI, discusses the ongoing feud between Elon Musk and Sam Altman, and how everyday people can use AI in their lives.
U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum “will not go unanswered,” European Union chief Ursula von der Leyen vowed on Tuesday, adding that they will trigger toug