Audi E-Tron GT buyers will get three years of free DC fast charging

You don\'t have to buy a Porsche Taycan to get years of free charging. Audi has revealed that 2022 E-Tron GT buyers will get three years of free DC fast charging (through VW\'s Electrify America, of course) like their Taycan-owning counterparts. If you can find the right stations, you can charge your electric sports sedan from 5 percent to 80 percent in 22 minutes at no cost. You might not pay a thing for a state-to-state trip or an extended backroad jaunt, in other words.

This could be important when the E-Tron GT\'s estimated range tops out at 238 miles. You might be more likely to buy the EV if the price of an extended journey is a non-issue There\'s also a clear competitive motivation — Tesla has occasionally revived free Supercharging as an incentive to buy its cars, and Audi might lose business if it insists on paid battery top-ups.

The challenge, as before, is coverage. Electrify America expects to have 800 U.S. stations by the end of 2021, but Tesla already had over 908 Supercharger stations in the country as of March 2020. Free charging might not matter much if there aren\'t enough stations along your planned routes. Audi\'s freebie might only reach its full potential once coverage is truly ubiquitous.

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