Dispelling old wives tales that electric vehicles aren’t safe, Audi grabbed the highest score in the U.S.-based Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) earning it as a Top Safety Pick+. The Audi e-tron is the first battery electric vehicle (BEV) to earn the rating.

The IIHS “Top Safety Pick+” is based on “Good” ratings—the highest rating given to the vehicle—in the six areas of crashworthiness performance: small front overlap collision evaluations on both the driver and passenger sides; moderate front overlap; side impact; roof strength; head restraints and seat performance.

Through IIHS’ evaluations, the e-tron body and structure exceled in safety performance, earning the top rating in all of the said areas.

The Audi e-tron comes with standard Matrix Design LED headlights, and standard automatic emergency braking. It also has Audi pre sense basic, which can help prepare the vehicle for impact by partially closing the side windows and sunroof, and pre-tensioning the front safety belts. Using a front-mounted camera, the e-tron can help initiate braking at speeds of up to 87 km/h for detected pedestrians and bicyclists and can bring a vehicle to a full stop when traveling at speeds under 40 km/h.

A full-sized SUV, the e-tron is Audi’s first full electric series-production model. The all-wheel drive SUV is powered by two large lithium-ion batteries with 95 kWh stored energy to provide a range of over 400 kilometers. With 561 Nm of torque, the two electric motors accelerate the electric SUV from zero to 100 km/h in 6.6 seconds.