Audi Q8 e-tron: Electric SUV with a range of 600 kilometers

Created: 2022-12-20 06:00

By: Rudolf Boegel

More range, faster charging.

Audi is relaunching the e-tron and renaming it.

It is now called the Q8 e-tron, the top model costs almost 100,000 euros.

It looks almost the same as before, but it has a different name and is a third more advanced than its predecessor.

The Audi e-tron becomes the Q8 e-tron.

Baptism takes place four years after birth.

Pretty neglected, because the electric car, which is available as an angular SUV and as a hatchback variant, is actually a secret star of the electric scene.

Everyone is talking about Tesla, but Audi also sells with electric.

Over 160,000 copies have already rolled out to customers.

And the mere announcement of the facelift has reportedly already filled the order books properly.

You should be quick if the Christ Child or Santa Claus is supposed to deliver the new Q8 before Christmas 2023.

Audi Q8 e-tron: Electric SUV with a range of 600 kilometers

What is it about the new Q8 e-tron?

First, the trimmings.

New cooler, an even more distinctive diffuser, air curtains, type designation in the glass of the B-pillar.

And of course the logo.

The Q8 e-tron is the first Audi model to get the new four rings.

The logo has become more subtle, two-dimensional, no more chrome, just black and white.

Refined restraint.

But the inside is much more exciting than the trimmings.

Not necessarily the interior.

Nothing has happened here.

why?

That is dignified, valuable, conservative, just completely Audi.

Thanks to the stacking technology, the new Audi SQ8 e-tron is significantly further than its predecessor.

© sagmeister_potography/Audi

What makes the new E-SUV, which has been ennobled as the Q8, are the inner values.

The battery for example.

It is the same size as before, but stores more energy through the so-called stacking technique.

The cells are stacked and no longer wound.

This leads to a significant increase in range of 44 percent for the model with the entry-level engine, the Q8 50 e-tron, because the net capacity, i.e. the usable content of the battery, has increased from 64 to 89 kWh.

That means it can now travel up to 505 kilometers.

There is also a 32 percent increase in the 55 and S models.

Both now have 106 kWh in the underbody (net).

The clear range winner is the Q8 55 e-tron.

It can now travel 600 kilometers on a full charge.

The S model only 513. Why the big difference?

The same equation applies here as for combustion engines.

Performance costs energy.

The S model has the sheer power of 370 kW, which is 70 more than the 55 and even 120 more than the entry-level model.

Audi Q8-etron: Electric SUV charges with up to 170 kW

Range is one thing – charging is the other sticking point in electromobility.

Here many manufacturers promise the moon.

Especially when it comes to loading speed.

120, 150, 170 kW – who offers more?

These are all top values, comparable to the maximum speed.

The car packs 250 things, but how long do you keep this pace?

This also applies to the so-called SOC.

The State of Charge is a curve that shows the charging process.

In order to protect the cell chemistry, to put it simply, batteries are first heavily charged, then the power supply becomes weaker and weaker.

Charging an electric car: These ten go the furthest after 20 minutes

View photo gallery

With the Q8 55 e-tron, by far the best-selling model in the family, the charging current increases to up to 170 kW, then it falls relatively quickly to 100 kW at around 80 percent.

And then the charging curve really crashes.

This is also the reason why manufacturers are always happy to state how quickly such an electric car can be charged from 10 or 20 to 80 percent.

Logically, that sounds good.

With the Q8 55 e-tron it is 26 and 31 minutes respectively.

In order to charge the remaining 20 percent of the battery, you need a little more patience.

However, this system is quite good for longer journeys.

You can find even more exciting car topics in the free newsletter from our partner 24auto.de.

also read

Corvette driver blocks two parking spaces – Reddit users show understanding

READ

Did you know that sun visors are often extendable?

TikToker inspires with auto trick

READ

Christmas bonuses at Audi and Mercedes – that’s how much the employees get

READ

Audi RS 3 quattro pulls trucks out of the snow – TikTok users are celebrating

READ

Audi with future problems in the VW group - old criticism and new difficulties

READ

Fancy a voyage of discovery?

My space

Audi Q8 e-tron: No swaying, no nodding

For a test drive.

In theory, you shouldn't necessarily have to say a lot of words about the facelift.

After all, the core values ​​for horsepower and acceleration have (almost) remained the same.

If only the word "if" wasn't there.

Because Audi wouldn't be Audi if they hadn't meticulously fine-tuned the chassis.

On the one hand, that's part of the original DNA of the Ingolstadt company - and in the electric age, in which performance is in abundance, it's becoming more and more important as a distinguishing criterion.

The chassis of a car is a science in itself.

Especially with the Quattro inventors from Audi.

There are so many components working together here, it's engineered Tetris aggravated.

Audi has further optimized the chassis of the Q8 e-tron.

True to the slogan: Advance through Technink.

© sagmeister_potography/Audi

How is the power distribution between the front and rear axles?

When are the tensile forces of the dampers activated?

How do you get the body roll under hard braking under control?

What about the rolling forces that tug at the side of the car in corners?

Shaking is not only a bad mistake when drinking alcohol, but also in vehicle construction.

Last trip to the technology corner: So many parameters flow together here that a separate central processing unit has to process the flood of data - and above all their display.

A small example: as soon as the curve is approached, the computer has the most important data and can tell the rear axle in good time how to adjust the dampers in order to get out of the curve optimally.

Audi SQ8 e-tron: 100 km/h in 4.5 seconds

Normal drivers will only be marginally interested in this.

What is more important is how the car feels.

And that's where the Q8 e-tron made a giant leap.

The precision with which the roughly 2.5-ton colossus can be steered around the curve is precision work.

The body does not lean noticeably to the side, even in the tightest corners.

And when you step on the gas pedal, the rear swings dynamically around its own axis.

The Q8 e-tron can be driven almost as lightly as a sports car, the electric ship floats effortlessly and detached through the landscape.

One wonders what could be even better.

Of course, the SQ 8 ranks at the top. Like its brothers, it has a motor on the front axle, but even two units at the rear instead of one.

This means that up to 503 hp drive at the top, with the force of 973 Nm of torque.

Goes from zero to 100 in 4.5 seconds.

Supported by so-called torque vectoring, which distributes the power between the individual wheels on the rear axle within five milliseconds when cornering.

Audi Q8 e-tron: entry-level model for 74,400 euros

Of course, all this has its price.

The SQ8 e-tron starts at just under 96,000 euros, with the Sportback you have to add almost 3,000 euros.

You can get the entry-level model for 74,400 euros cheaper, the Audi Q8 55 e-tron costs around 10,000 euros more.

Our conclusion on the new: The old e-tron was already a decent electric vehicle, the Q8 e-tron goes one step further in terms of range and charging time and finally proves its long-distance suitability.

The chassis is, there is no other way to put it, a pleasure.

That's why we would replace the old Audi saying "Vorsprung durch Technik" with "Vorsprung durch Chassis".