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The Audi Q6 e-tron offers lots of space, the normal premium and high-tech Audi cabin, ultra-rapid charging, a refined driving experience, and in quattro form, huge grip.
The Audi e-tron was one of the earlier all-electric SUVs; this later became the Q8 e-tron, and we also have the Q4 e-tron. So there’s been a gap between the Q4 and the Q8, which has now been filled by the Q6. Is it the EV that you would expect to slot in between these two models?
In terms of exterior design, the Audi Q6 e-tron is pretty much exactly what you would expect. The side profile is very similar to the Q4 and the Q8, as is the rear. The front takes a slightly different approach, being a bit more fussy, with two levels of lights, than the bolder Q4.
The cabin is also the normal Audi mix of premium design and materials, combined with lots of the latest technology.
It’s under the skin where Audi would like you to appreciate the new ‘Premium Platform Electric’ (PPE). The Q6 e-tron is the first production model on this platform, developed jointly with Porsche, and featuring E3 electronic architecture, with five high-performance computers which control all vehicle functions. A main benefit for a Q6 e-tron owner is the 800-volt technology, which allows ultra-rapid charging.
Featuring a platform developed specifically for an electric vehicle also means that there’s more space inside the car. Within its 4,771mm length, there’s lots of rear legroom, and a large 526-litre boot, with space underneath the floor as well as a 64-litre front trunk (‘frunk’); both of these compartments are large enough to store charging cables. Boot space increases to 1,529 litres with the rear seats folded.
The Audi Q6 e-tron quattro has a 100 kWh lithium ion battery (with 94.9 kWh of usable capacity), and electric motors on the front and rear axles, giving quattro all-wheel drive, with rear-biased torque distribution.
The Q6 e-tron has the world’s first active digital light signature; digital OLED rear lights generate a new image every 10 milliseconds; there are a total of up to eight digital light signatures in the redesigned daytime running lights of the Matrix LED headlights and in the digital OLED rear lights. For the first time, the digital OLED rear lights can communicate with their immediate surroundings in a targeted manner (Car-to-X). The communication light can warn other road users in advance of accidents and breakdowns with integrated warning symbols.
Technology is certainly at the core of the Audi Q6 e-tron driving experience, from the new platform to the dashboard dominated by a wide curved screen.
Technology is also behind the all-wheel drive quattro powertrain, which delivers very impressive levels of grip – something which we were able to verify on dry and wet roads.
Ride quality is comfortable on smooth roads, but overall it’s somewhat on the firm side, despite the adaptive air suspension. This helps with the body control of a large and heavy SUV, but it can impact secondary ride over poor road surfaces, and this isn’t helped by the large wheels and tyres, which can also contribute to road noise.
There are a number of drive modes, or as Audi calls them, Drive Select modes: Individual, Dynamic, Comfort, Efficiency and Off Road.
Performance is certainly respectable, with a 0-62 mph acceleration time of 5.9 seconds being impressive for an SUV with a kerb weight of 2,400 kg.
The ‘button’-style gear selector allows you to select ‘B’ mode to increase the level of regenerative braking, and there are also steering wheel-mounted paddles for extra control of the regeneration level.
The dashboard features a wide curved screen incorporating the driver’s display and the central touchscreen, which provides a large map, and one that’s very detailed thanks to the satellite mapping. There’s also a head-up display, and even the passenger gets their own touchscreen.
At first sight all the features on the infotainment system can appear overwhelming, but the user-friendliness is helped by permanent shortcut buttons for the main touchscreen, including essential buttons for items such as Home, Radio, Phone and Nav and Apple CarPlay. Climate controls are always visible, and a menu allows you to switch off features such as lane departure warning, which otherwise is very intrusive. Note that you’ll have to reset all these controls if you get out of the car.
A graphic has appeared on the driver’s display similar to what Teslas have had for many years – an image of other surrounding vehicles, to reassure you that the Q6 knows what’s around it.
A number of controls, such as for lights, appear to have gravitated to the interior driver’s door handle.
An interesting feature is the satnav directions, which don’t come out of the dashboard, but instead emanate from speakers in the driver’s seat headrest, which takes a bit of getting used to.
If the car believes that you’re too close to the vehicle in front on a motorway, lots or bright red arrows will appear on the head-up display. Unrelated to this, around town, the Q6 applied emergency braking by itself on a couple of occasions, for no apparent reason.
The Audi Q6 e-tron has an official WLTP combined electric range of 381 miles for Sport trim, 347 miles for S line, 349 miles for Edition 1 and 344 miles for the Launch Edition (as tested).
Our real-world range experience unfortunately fell somewhat short of these figures, averaging 250 miles, based on around 80% of driving at 70mph on the motorway.
In terms of efficiency, official WLTP consumption figures are 172.4 Wh/km (Sport), 189.0 Wh/km (S line), 188.5 Wh/km (Edition 1) and 191.8 Wh/km (Launch Edition).
The Q6 e-tron features two charge sockets, either side on the rear of the vehicle – a Type 2 socket on the driver’s side, and a Type 2 and CCS socket on the passenger side.
Maximum ultra-rapid charging capacity is an impressive 270 kW, with the ability to add up to 158 miles of range in just 10 minutes, and a 10% to 80% charge taking just 21 minutes.
Equipped with Plug & Charge, the Q6 e-tron authorises itself at compatible charging stations when the charging cable is plugged in and commences the charging process. Charging is also fully automatic. If a charging station works with 400-volt technology, the Audi Q6 e-tron can, for the first time, enable bank charging. This means that the 800-volt battery is automatically divided into two batteries at equal voltage, which can then be charged in parallel with up to 150 kW.
The Q6 e-tron can also charge at up to 11 kW AC.
How to charge an electric car
The Audi Q6 e-tron is available in four trim lines, Sport, S line, Edition 1 and Launch Edition (as tested).
The Audi Q6 e-tron quattro is priced from £68,975. Our Launch Edition test car, with Ascari blue metallic paint, is priced at £86,440. The SQ6 e-tron is also available, from £92,950.
Audi Q6 e-tron models with rear-wheel drive are due, and the Audi Q6 Sportback e-tron has now been announced.
The Audi Q6 e-tron is an aspirational electric SUV. It provides everything that prospective Audi owners would want: a premium and high-tech interior, a refined driving experience, lots of space, and ultra-rapid charging. The Q6 e-tron’s official driving range is impressive, however we failed to match that in real-world driving. The new Porsche Macan shares the same platform as the Audi Q6; it will be interesting to see how the driving dynamics of the Porsche differs from the Q6. In the meantime the Audi Q6 e-tron is awarded a Green Car Guide rating of 8 out of 10.
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