The arrival of the Q6 e-tron marks a significant milestone on the electric journey that Audi and its corporate siblings began in the wake of dieselgate, nearly a decade ago. Now, after developing electric vehicles based on its own gas-powered models, a cheaper VW platform, and a tweaked Taycan, the brand has led the development of a new platform just for electric vehicles, one that incorporates lessons learned from those earlier EVs.
We've followed the development of that Premium Platform Electric architecture and the Q6 e-tron for some time. Now, we've finally been behind the wheel.
Audi made its name with "quattro" all-wheel drive powertrains, and both versions of Q6 e-tron to be offered initially will use twin-motor, all-wheel drive powertrains—an asynchronous motor driving the front wheels and a permanent magnet synchronous motor at the rear. Both versions will use the same capacity 100 kWh (94.4 kWh net) battery pack, which operates at 800 V and DC fast-charges from 10–80 percent in 21 minutes.
The standard Q6 e-tron quattro has a nominal output of 422 hp (315 kW) and is capable of up to 456 hp (340 kW) when using launch control, which boosts this midsize electric SUV down the drag strip with enough vigor to hit 60 mph in 4.9 seconds (0–100 km/h in 5.1 seconds). Don't drive like that, and about 307 miles (495 km) of range should be possible on a single charge, Audi says.
The SQ6 e-tron is the slightly spicy version, with an output of 483 hp (360 kW), peaking at 509 hp (380 kW) for brief bursts. This drops the launch control 0–60 time to 4.1 seconds (4.3 seconds to 100 km/h) and raises the top speed from 130 mph (210 km/h) to 143 mph (230 km/h), a fact that will be purely academic to anyone outside of Germany, and most people there, too. With larger wheels and more rapid acceleration, the SQ6 e-tron's range drops to 276 miles (444 km) on a single charge.
Audi succeeded in finding a mostly alpine set of roads for us to test its newest EV. It probably hadn't counted on such heavy rain, which, it turns out, does not just stay on the plain. The rather miserable conditions proved more intimidating to humans than the Q6 or SQ6.