Along fascinating roads, over imposing bridges and through impressive tunnels in Scandinavia – a tour of more than 1,000 kilometres in the Audi A6 Sportback e-tron Performance.
Copenhagen is a charming city. It celebrates beautiful design and features state-of-the-art architecture while prioritising sustainability – the performance of the Audi A6 Sportback e-tron It feels like home here. But we didn’t come to stay.
Our route will take us from Copenhagen, in Denmark, to Bergen, in Norway, more than 1,000 kilometers away. We’re excited to see spectacular scenery on our journey, and we’re excited about what the most aerodynamic Audi has in store for us along the way. Its drag coefficient is 0.21 set a new record for the brand.
First stage, Denmark
On our first leg, we travel almost silently from Copenhagen to the east, over the world’s longest cable-stayed bridge and through the nearly four-kilometer-long Drogden Tunnel. Together with the island of Peberholm, they form the Öresund connection. This remarkable combination of bridge, island and tunnel gives us a preview of what awaits us in the next two days.
“Farvel” – “goodbye” – to Denmark and “Hej” to Sweden. Going north, we pass through Helsingborg, Halmstad and Gothenburg, covering about 470 kilometers before its first charging stop. The sophisticated charging plan proposes the most ideal and shortest charging stop on the route near the city of Strömstad. A fast charging station with a charging power of 350 kW powers the battery with 27 kWh in just seven minutes. We haven’t even finished our coffee, but the battery is already enough for our next destination: Oslo, 140 kilometers away. We enjoy the spring weather for a few more minutes and then we hit the road again.
After 500 kilometers are covered, the group’s conversation moves to more specific aspects of the trip. There is a clear consensus, and a participant from France sums it up: ” It’s a true cruiser. The adaptive air suspension ensures an exceptionally comfortable ride, and the acoustic windows hold noise where it belongs – outside”.
That’s right, we’re not here for unwanted noises, which is why the Bang and Olufsen audio system with headrest speakers releases ABBA hits one after the other, imported directly from Sweden. Shortly after, a German passenger has fun on YouTube with the 10.9-inch passenger screen. Don’t worry about the driver – visual entertainment is not a distraction, because thanks to Active Privacy mode, the display cannot be seen from the driver’s seat while the car is moving.
Mașina navigatorului: Peugeot 408 PHEV GT 1.6 PURETECH TURBO SS
A relaxing car ride with the Audi A6 Sportback e-tron Performance: destination Oslo
It takes us about seven hours to cover the more than 600 kilometers from Copenhagen to Oslo – and we arrived. Our accommodation for the night in the capital of Norway is a hotel on its most famous mountain, Holmenkollen. Right next door is the oldest ski jumping facility in the world. Athletes have been flying to the sky here since 1892. Our interest is piqued – we want to learn more about the history of this long-honored facility and Oslo, so we ask ChatGPT, which is integrated into the self-learning voice assistant called Audi assistant.
The end of the road trip: Bergen awaits you
The next day is approaching and we are full of enthusiasm for the stage that awaits us. As we travel from Oslo to Bergen, the highway makes way for country roads. The navigation system calculates about four hours to the next reference point. Country roads allow the car to really show off its dynamic handling and stability thanks to rear-wheel drive. “The low center of gravity is simply impressive,” says one participant. Navigate Norway’s beautiful, winding roads with precision thanks to the platform-specific front axle, plus refined bridge kinematics. With a wide air suspension distribution, it is in its element with the drive selection mode set to “Dynamic” and impresses with its sporty handling.
The winding road bears fruit: just two and a half hours west of Oslo, we reach Hardangervidda, the largest mountain plateau in Europe. Equally impressive are the Vøringsfossen – arguably Norway’s most famous waterfall – and the majestic Eidfjord. Simply spectacular!
In the countryside, away from the big cities, you might expect to worry about autonomy – but in Norway, that’s simply not the case. While 15 years ago Norwegians drove almost exclusively cars with internal combustion engines, today the proportion of fully electric vehicles is almost 92%. Another five percent are hybrids and plug-in hybrids. Petrol and diesel cars have practically disappeared from the registration statistics. The charging infrastructure is equally impressive; Norway has been steadily expanding it in recent years.
At kilometer 855 of our journey, we stop, quickly recharge the high-voltage battery and set off for our last stop – to Bergen. The Hardanger Bridge, with a height of 202 meters and a length of 1,380 meters, and the Vallavik Tunnel, with a length of over 7,700 meters, are absolutely breathtaking. The lighting innovations of the A6 Sportback e-tron Performance really make their mark as it navigates through this tunnel: second-generation OLED digital taillights, active digital light signature, user-configurable light signatures and communication light. “The precision of the lights and their dynamic character are simply impressive,” enthuses one participant, then adds: “The lighting technology not only shapes the image of Audi on the road, but probably also contributes significantly to greater road safety.”
It’s the beginning of the evening, and the next city sign reads “Oslo” in large letters. We have traveled over 1,000 kilometers, and the dashboard shows only a few more to our destination in the city center. Traffic becomes noticeably more congested, at which point assistance systems come into play. Adaptive Cruise Assist helps with acceleration, braking, and maintaining the set speed and distance to the car in front, as well as lane guidance.
Surrounded by mountains and fjords, the question remains: which is more beautiful – the car or the city? Both are sleek, dynamic and progressive, but only the A6 Sportback e-tron is the beauty in motion. After such an impressive journey, everyone will probably answer this question in their own way. Now it’s time to go back – letting ourselves be carried away by the current, in all directions.
Text and photo: Audi
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