Audi e-tron

e-tron at a glance

The car grew out of the e-tron quattro concept of the 2015 Frankfurt show. How that plan changed on the way to production is told in our page on Audi's 2015 electric SUV plan. This page covers the production car.

Versions, motors and batteries

Every version has an asynchronous motor on each axle. In the 55 quattro the front motor gives 125 kW and the rear one 140 kW, 265 kW together in normal driving. In boost mode the system briefly delivers 300 kW (408 PS) and 664 Nm, for up to eight seconds. The battery holds 95 kWh gross; at launch 83.6 kWh were usable, later 86.5 kWh after a software update.

Top speed is limited to 200 km/h on the early cars and 204–210 km/h on the Q8 versions. The three-motor S models have one motor at the front and two at the rear; the SQ8 delivers 973 Nm.

Range, charging and consumption

At launch the 55 quattro had a WLTP range of up to 417 km, raised to 436 km in autumn 2019 when Audi released more of the battery. In the United States the EPA rated it at 328 km, later 357 km. The Q8 e-tron changed the picture: up to 582 km for the SUV and 600 km for the Sportback with the 114 kWh battery.

The Audi was one of the first electric cars to charge at 150 kW, and it held close to that rate up to about 80 %. That gives roughly 30 minutes from low to 80 % on a fast charger. At home, the standard 11 kW AC charger fills the battery in about 8.5 hours; the optional 22 kW unit halves that. Recuperation provides about 30 % of the range on average, and the battery is kept between 23 and 35 °C.

A winter test at around −5 °C gave 331 km against 370 km in summer, a loss of 10.5 %. By our calculation, a Q8 e-tron 55 that uses 106 kWh for 582 km needs about 18 kWh per 100 km under WLTP conditions. You can compare that with a petrol SUV in our fuel cost comparison tool.

Body, cabin and dimensions

The SUV is about 4,900 mm long, 1,935 mm wide and 1,616 mm tall on a 2,928 mm wheelbase, so it sits between the Q5 and the Q7 in length. The drag coefficient is 0.27 with the optional camera mirrors and 0.25 for the Sportback. The camera mirrors, called virtual exterior mirrors, show the view on screens in the door panels. Audi was among the first carmakers to offer them on a production car.

The cabin follows the design of the Q8 and A8, with two touchscreens in the centre console and the Audi virtual cockpit. A flat floor gives the rear passengers more room than in a combustion SUV of the same length. Air suspension is standard, and the old version of this page put its adjustment range at 76 mm.

Safety: five Euro NCAP stars

Euro NCAP tested the car in 2019 and gave it five stars. The scores were 91 % for adult occupants, 85 % for child occupants, 71 % for vulnerable road users and 76 % for safety assist. The test car weighed 2,565 kg.

In June 2019 Audi recalled 1,650 cars worldwide because a seal on the low-voltage wiring could let moisture into the battery housing. In extreme cases this could cause a short circuit or a fire. Audi said the risk was very low, and the fix was a new seal.

Sales and the end of production in Brussels

Production started slowly: 2,425 cars in 2018, then 43,376 in 2019. It was the best-selling car of any kind in Norway in October 2019 and over the whole of 2020, ahead of the Tesla Model 3. In 2021 the Brussels plant built 43,866 e-tron and e-tron Sportback cars. Over the first four years, about 160,000 were delivered.

Demand for large premium electric cars then fell. In October 2024 Audi announced that production would end, and the last Q8 e-tron left the line on 25 February 2025. The plant, which had built cars for 76 years and more than eight million vehicles in total, closed on 28 February 2025 with the loss of about 3,000 jobs. Audi said the site had no press shop, no room to expand and only one model. By our calculation, 2023 output was 22 % below the 2022 peak.

Rivals: EQC, I-Pace and Model X

The Audi arrived together with two other premium electric SUVs from established brands. Our comparison tool lines up their figures.

The Audi charged faster than the EQC (150 against 110 kW), while the lighter Jaguar was quicker off the line. The German launch price of the 55 quattro was €79,900 in 2018.