Aspen Skiing Co. takes deep dive into electric vehicles with Audi

Aspen Skiing Co. is taking a deep dive into all-electric vehicles with its Aspen U presentation Wednesday and opportunities to test drive the Audi e-tron Wednesday through June 30.

The test drives will be offered at the lower Silver Queen Gondola Plaza at Aspen Mountain each day from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. There will be four Audi e-trons for people to take out to drive. Skico also will make cars available at its hotels for guests to test drive.

“The goal of this is to grow awareness around the Audi e-tron vehicles as well as EVs as a whole,” said Michael Olenick, Skico strategic alliances manager. “There is a stigma around EVs that people lose speed, power and style when going EV but that is not the case and when people hop in the driver’s seat of the new e-tron, they will learn that very fast.”

People also can educate themselves about all-electric vehicles at the Aspen U presentation Wednesday from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Limelight Hotel in Aspen. Cody Thacker, head of electrification for Audi of America, will offer his vision of the disruption and opportunities that lie ahead in the automotive industry and share how Audi’s electrification investments are shaping the future of the company.

The presentation is titled “The Mobility Singularity: Electrification and the Re-invention of Automotive.” Aspen U is Skico’s speaker series oriented around environmental topics.

The mission of Thacker’s team is to launch compelling electric vehicles and to create an ecosystem that makes electric vehicle ownership attainable.

The presentation will be followed by a preview of Audi’s future electric vehicle portfolio.