Any Houston or Texas drivers?

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rfortson

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 4, 2016
Messages
253
They don't seem to be flying off the lots here in Texas, but I do know one was sold last week in Houston. Hopefully, I'll add to the count this week as I'm finalizing a leasing deal.
 
rfortson":3u6csicx said:
They don't seem to be flying off the lots here in Texas, but I do know one was sold last week in Houston. Hopefully, I'll add to the count this week as I'm finalizing a leasing deal.

Good luck with your purchase. Hope you can get a deal on the e-tron. It's a great car and I'm sure you'll really enjoy it.
 
hangtime10":1ce3zhnr said:
rfortson":1ce3zhnr said:
They don't seem to be flying off the lots here in Texas, but I do know one was sold last week in Houston. Hopefully, I'll add to the count this week as I'm finalizing a leasing deal.

Good luck with your purchase. Hope you can get a deal on the e-tron. It's a great car and I'm sure you'll really enjoy it.

Thanks! I picked it up yesterday. Drove to San Antonio and got the only red one I could find in Texas. Only others I saw were mainly in Florida.

So far, I'm loving it. Drove (hard) on the highway yesterday so mileage took a hit. Assuming the tank was full (it was showing full), I got a little over 34mpg, but I was doing 80+ until I sat in traffic in Houston for half an hour without moving. Not the best conditions for mileage.

Today, I've used up the battery already in about 14-15 miles, but that includes several start/stop trips and wonderful AC (including starting the AC up in my car before leaving for lunch...just because I can). I figure I won't see my best mileage for another tank or so as it will take me a while to get over the urge to zip around and drive everywhere. :) But it sure is fun.
 
Hiya, I just purchased a 2017 Premium w/ Sport Package in Austin, just waiting for it to be delivered from San Diego. I would be interested if anyone knows a good aftermarket A/V specialist in Austin, since I want to add Apple CarPlay without the costly "packages" you have to add thru Audi to get it! (Buying an Audi is like the bad old days of getting cable! "You want that one channel, ok you have to also get this 'package' of 50 others that you dont want...")
 
BentheRed":19nrw1y4 said:
Hiya, I just purchased a 2017 Premium w/ Sport Package in Austin, just waiting for it to be delivered from San Diego. I would be interested if anyone knows a good aftermarket A/V specialist in Austin, since I want to add Apple CarPlay without the costly "packages" you have to add thru Audi to get it! (Buying an Audi is like the bad old days of getting cable! "You want that one channel, ok you have to also get this 'package' of 50 others that you dont want...")

Cool! Hope you enjoy the car, I'm loving mine.

And I saw my first confirmed e-tron on the road last week, a blue one in downtown Houston. (Okay, it was parked.) How did I know it was an e-tron? It had that giant sticker on the side of the car that said "A3 e-tron". :)
 
Is it me or do commercial chargers not make sense in Texas where gas is so cheap? I didn't want to post this elsewhere because of angry replies from folks paying $4 or more for gas! There is a chargepoint at my work which is $2 p/h, so $4+ to charge the battery for <20 miles range. $2 for a gallon of gas will give me 30-40 miles range on the ICE. I guess that's not the point of having an EV thou, right? :)
 
That's a valid question. Whether to use public chargers or not is dependent on the cost and makeup of the power in your area. In much of the country, even the EV argument of not using fossil fuels is questionable, since much of the power is generated by coal or natural gas plants.

Here in the Pacific NW, our power is mostly renewable, hydro and a bit of wind. So the EV argument is still good. But the public chargers around here cost $0.39/kWh - that equates to almost $2.80 for a full charge. Even that is pushing the envelope a bit. At $4+ for a full charge, I'm pretty sure I'd pass.
 
Rfortson, being from New Orleans, my biggest concern about this car is high water. I guess I'll have to park my etron and walk if we have flooding. If possible. I just had to have this car, but I worry more about the electrical components than with a pure ICE.

I recently saw a chart about the cleanliness of states electricity production and my state was better than average because we don't use much coal. We use a great deal of nat gas which is the cleanest fossil fuel, no? And nukes.

I also saw a chart rating the best states to run a electric car and LA was #10. I think our rating was higher because our electricity is cheaper than average. I think I pay just over 9 cents a kWh.

I would be interested in installing solar panels, but Louisiana's support of them with tax credits has ended. Alas.
 
I use public chargers mainly for the novelty/convenience, but it doesn't make economic sense since our gas is so cheap. However, the local outlet mall (in Dickinson if anyone is looking) has free charging, so whenever I'm down there, I plug in. I'll also plug in at the Cracker Barrel in League City, which for some reason has chargers. I think I pay about $3-4 for a full charge, which is more than the equivalent gas price for sure. (And not sure the demographics of Cracker Barrel really match up with EVs, but at least there's always a spot to charge - unless someone parks their 4WD there.)

OwDeEtron":tvgsdjh5 said:
Rfortson, being from New Orleans, my biggest concern about this car is high water. I guess I'll have to park my etron and walk if we have flooding. If possible. I just had to have this car, but I worry more about the electrical components than with a pure ICE.

Yeah, we get flooding here, too, and I've been wary of driving through some deep puddles. So far, so good, but it's something to keep an eye on in the future.
 
Yes, but all the 2016/2017 Audi E-tron lease quotes I've gotten in North Texas were terrible. This car really doesn't make a whole lot of sense in Texas, because the 16 mile EV range isn't really going to cut it, and the charging network isn't great. Also the Audi A4 Ultra gets 37 miles Highway and 31 combined (vs E-Tron's 34 cmb). And it costs only 34k. Most people are just going to get that.
 
Octavius":v7xfk6i3 said:
Yes, but all the 2016/2017 Audi E-tron lease quotes I've gotten in North Texas were terrible. This car really doesn't make a whole lot of sense in Texas, because the 16 mile EV range isn't really going to cut it, and the charging network isn't great. Also the Audi A4 Ultra gets 37 miles Highway and 31 combined (vs E-Tron's 34 cmb). And it costs only 34k. Most people are just going to get that.

It's a niche product for sure, but the 16 miles works for me. I can drive back/forth to work each day on electricity and I get free weekends electricity and $0.12/kWh during the week. I pay about a dollar a week to charge. Rolling that cost into an equivalent cost for gasoline at $2.50 a gallon, I'm still getting an equivalent of 53-55mpg. Once gas starts going up again (and it will...it always does) it will only get better.

But yeah, if you're driving 50-75 miles/day it might not make quite as much sense. Even then, the first 16 miles per day at a very cheap rate will start to make a difference.

Edit - Dang, I really shouldn't post when distracted.

I pay about $4/week to charge my car. Let's round up to $5/week, which is the same as 2 gallons of gas at $2.50/gallon. I get 7x16 = 112 miles per week on electricity with is equivalent to 56 mpg. I drive mainly on electricity so my gas mileage of 35 mpg doesn't drop my overall mileage that much.

Gas prices are more volatile than electricity so this should only get better over time. Also, there's a new program with free nights for electricity. That would work much better than free weekends, but I need to see the non-free costs first. Bottom line, it works for me. YMMV.
 
Fort Worth. I've had my 2016 etron for about six weeks. Got Green Mountain Energy to give me the special EV flat rate of $0.108/kWh (includes the delivery charge), all renewables. I have exactly a 16 mile round trip to work each day and plug in at night on 110V. Most days I can do it all on EV, and I usually drive enough on weekends running errands to burn through a full charge and maybe a little dino juice. So I figure that's (8 kWh X .108) X 7 = $6/week in trons to go 112 miles. Premium gas is up close to $3/gal here so that's 56 mpg cost equivalent in EV, all sourced to wind and sun so I'm doing my part to save the planet. I haven't had to gas up yet but haven't done any longer trips. Very fun car to drive, although you have to be disciplined about staying "eyes out" - lots of distractions on the dash and interesting things to monkey with.

My one complaint with Audi is that the sales people in the DFW area have no idea what the etron is. Tree hugger hybrid in Texas when gas is cheap = low customer interest, and the dealers are pushing A5's. I used that to my negotiating advantage, but I hope that they educate themselves a little more; it's a great little car.
 
OwDeEtron":24dq409m said:
OK, rfortson, you had heavy rain in Houston today. Hope you were on high ground.

Yep, our street was a river for about an hour. Luckily I was already home. Also luckily, the water recedes in about an hour or so.
 
Just ordered a 2018 Etron here in San Antonio. Placed the order about 3 weeks ago and haven't got a confirmation just yet. I read somewhere that the batteries are being upgraded. I hope that's the case.
 
Picked up our 2018 etron on Wednesday! Amazing car. Unfortunately the left DRL went out so it's back at the dealer today getting that taken care of. Haven't had too much seat time yet but very happy with the purchase so far!

MVIMG_20180131_113253.jpg
 
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