Battery bottleneck threatens Audi e-tron production

Audi is reportedly having problems with the battery supply from the supplier LG Chem for their electric e-tron. Audi is therefore currently only able to produce about half of the originally announced 300 e-tron units per day at its plant in Brussels.

This was reported by German newspaper Bayerischer Rundfunk with reference to suppliers and employees. Officially, a spokesperson for the company only states that every model start-up is associated with challenges that are mastered together with the development partners and suppliers. Production is being ramped up step by step with very high quality standards.

20,000 advance orders for the e-tron quattro are expected to have been received by now. The electric SUV is manufactured in Brussels, the batteries from LG Chem come from its plant in Poland. According to the above-mentioned report, the delivery time for the e-tron is currently around five months, which is a rather good figure compared to the waiting time for electric cars from other manufacturers. If the report on the battery bottleneck proves to be true, this time span could, of course, be extended over time.

Meanwhile, Audi prefers to make positive publicity: the Ingolstadt-based company has now (after a delayed market launch) started delivering the e-tron. The first customer recently picked up his e-tron at the Audi Forum Neckarsulm. At the vehicle’s world premiere in San Francisco, he had secured first place on the reservation list. Of course, test drives were possible earlier: electrive.net editor-in-chief Peter Schwierz tested the first series electric car from Ingolstadt this month for a weekend in Berlin and Brandenburg. His experiences of what Audi does differently mostly proved positive.

br.de (Batteries), audi-mediacenter.com (Deliveries, both sources in German)