2024 Audi Q8 e-tron and SQ8 e-tron Refine the Formula

Ask anyone lined up at a courthouse trying to change their name why they’re doing it, and they’ll tell you a name change brings a new chance, a new path, maybe even a new life. Audi’s marketing team is hoping for that effect with its renaming of the e-tron SUV and Sportback for 2024. After five years as e-tron, Audi would like you to call them the Q8 e-tron and the Q8 e-tron Sportback from now on.

The Q8 nomenclature is supposed to help buyers understand where the brand’s electric SUV fits in the lineup. Confused customers believed the e-tron was Q5 sized, making its $72K starting price a tough sell. Calling it a Q8 more accurately reflects the e-tron’s size and equipment levels. In the future, all Audi models will have an electric version denoted by “e-tron” appending the gas counterpart’s name.

New badges aren’t the only changes. To extend the old e-tron’s lackluster range, out goes the previous 86.5-kWh battery pack, and in comes a 106.0-kWh setup that occupies the same space under the floor. Increasing the capacity without a physically larger pack requires cells with more energy density, an improvement brought about by new chemistry. The new car’s EPA-estimated range is not yet available, but Audi expects the highest-range Q8 e-tron to hit 300 miles, far more than the 208 to 226 miles of the outgoing model.

To get a roughly 30 percent range bump from a 23 percent battery capacity increase, Audi went to work on the body, reducing the drag from 0.29 to 0.27 for the SUV and from 0.27 to 0.25 for the Sportback. New grille shutters in the nose open only when the battery or the cabin needs to be cooled. Larger spoilers ahead of the front and rear wheels help move the air more efficiently, and in back, a new motor with more windings requires less current but provides the same power output. Favoring that more efficient rear motor in most situations helps stretch the battery’s charge.

Audi offers up to 170-kW DC fast-charging capability (up from 150 kW) that can bring this larger battery from 10 to 80 percent in a claimed 31 minutes. The standard onboard AC charger will take in fresh electrons at a rate of up to 11.0 kW, with an optional charger capable of up to 22.0 kW (the most robust AC power supply commonly available today is a 19.2-kW connection). Replenishing an empty battery on the quickest AC connection would take about six hours, and the slower 11-kW hookup will require over 10 hours to take the battery from zero to 100 percent.

Going from zero to 60 mph takes far less time. All Q8 e-trons have all-wheel drive, but two powertrains are available in the SUV and the Sportback. Base versions have 402 horsepower from a two-motor setup and take about 5.5 seconds to hit 60 mph, according to Audi’s figures. The 496-hp SQ8 e-tron adds a second rear motor and will effortlessly move to 60 mph in a silent 4.5 seconds. Add the three motors’ horsepower totals and you’ll get 581 horses, but the battery will output only 496 horsepower.

In most driving, the Q8 e-tron is amazingly quiet, possibly even quieter than the outgoing Sportback model’s 63 decibels at 70 mph. Not much has changed inside, as the Q8 e-tron keeps the 12.3-inch digital gauge cluster and has dual center touchscreens. Seat comfort is excellent, and the interior materials and fits are as good here as in a gas-fed Q8.

Revised steering in all versions is quicker and more responsive. Light efforts and air springs programmed to counteract body roll help reduce the apparent mass. In the sportier SQ8 e-tron, the two electric motors in the rear axle can provide torque vectoring to improve nimbleness. You might not ever suspect that each version comes in at about 5700 pounds, give or take 100 or so pounds.

Regenerative braking is adjustable with a tap of the steering-wheel-mounted paddles, but it’s not quite aggressive enough for single-foot driving. As in the old e-tron, the braking is entirely by-wire, and there’s no physical connection between the brake pedal and the hydraulics. Hitting the pedal sends a request to a computer that determines whether regen, friction brakes, or a combination of both is best. You’d never know there are zeros and ones on the other side of the brake pedal, since it all works naturally and the tuning blends regenerative braking and the friction brakes invisibly. To prevent the rotors from rusting, the friction brakes are occasionally cycled, keeping things fresh.

More than a mere marketing exercise, the new Q8 e-tron has been tweaked not only for efficiency, but also to make it more fun to drive. Audi wisely kept the ride and sound levels civilized, updated the looks, and bumped up the range. For buyers who are ready for an electric SUV, but not quite ready to swallow the unconventional freakiness of a BMW iX or a Tesla Model anything, Audi is here with an EV for someone who might have purchased a Q8.

Source: Reviews - aranddriver.com