Today, we take the Audi E-Tron GT for a drive. Some Tesla owners could be getting money back for time when software updates pinched range. Home solar and smart energy systems are converging around electric cars. And an all-electric “baby Jeep” might be in the works. This and more, here at Green Car Reports. 

In a first drive of the 2022 Audi E-Tron GT we couldn’t resist comparing it to the Porsche Taycan. This quickest quattro ever sold has a little more grand-touring comfort than the Porsche, but neither tha GT nor the RS GT offer a full performance-car driving experience. 

Tesla used its over-the-air software updates to limit the maximum amount some Model S batteries could be charged, limiting range, for most of a year while it worked to solve an issue. That’s led to a lawsuit and, as of last week, a potential settlement in which Tesla will pay owners of the affected cars $625 each. 

Home solar and electric cars are complementary, of course, and they’re at last showing signs of converging in the minds of automakers and energy companies. An alliance between the solar provider SunPower and the charging-equipment maker Wallbox is one such example of the industry-wide smart-energy integration to come. 

According to a report last week from the UK, a fully electric “baby Jeep” could be in the works, while the brand is also considering hydrogen fuel-cell technology for future models. That small Jeep EV might potentially be built on the STLA Small platform, one of four dedicated EV platforms recently revealed by the parent company Stellantis. 

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