Audi Q8 e-tron Sportback price, range, electric SUV, features, performance and design – Introduction

First report: Audi’s flagship EV joins our long-term fleet and is instantly despatched to Mahabaleshwar to see how simply it might probably make the journey on one cost.

The Audi Q8 e-tron Sportback joins our long-term fleet and is instantly topped the brand new ‘Vary King’ after a stress-free drive to Mahabaleshwar. The ‘maha check’ to the hill station is a 265km drive that goes from sea degree to 4,500 ft. Batteries don’t like gravity and lose their cost quickly on a steep climb, which is why not many EVs could make it up comfortably on one cost, regardless of the gap being far lower than their claimed vary. However the Q8 e-tron made it up simply and with sufficient juice left within the battery. A residual cost of 38 p.c and 138km of vary remaining on the finish of the five-hour journey buffered me properly from any type of vary nervousness. The truth is, even earlier than I left, I wasn’t nervous about vary in any respect. That’s as a result of an earlier run to Mahabaleshwar within the common Q8 e-tron on the shorter however tougher (for vary) Mahad route, which incorporates the steep, battery-sapping Ambenali ghat received me residence with 21 p.c SOC left, and this reassuringly set my expectations.

Giant 114kWh battery provides sufficient vary for lengthy drives.

Additionally eliminating vary nervousness is the new Atal Setu bridge, which makes the drive 10km shorter and while you’re in an EV, each kilometre shorter is a kilometre of vary saved. The truth is, the Atal Setu, which is simply 8min away from the workplace, is an absolute recreation changer for my Mahabaleshwar drives, and with only one main site visitors mild to cross to succeed in the bridge, I don’t know what rush hour is.

My routine now’s to depart workplace late on a Friday night, cease on the meals mall simply after the primary toll on the Mumbai-Pune expressway for an unhealthy dinner (scrumptious pav bhaji this time) and attain the Wai flip off on the Bengaluru freeway round 11pm. A very good time to take pleasure in the very best a part of the drive: the sleek and comparatively huge Wai ghat. With no vehicles, no individuals and no canines on the abandoned mountain street, with out the concern of the Q8 e-tron operating out of cost, I may have a blast on the ultimate leg with no fear.

For a Mahabaleshwar weekend, I normally pack mild, however when you will have a house, there’s all the time some further stuff (normally books and magazines in my case) you find yourself taking with you, which is why the boot of any automotive is all the time necessary. The Sportback’s boot, regardless of the sloping roof line is spacious sufficient for my in a single day stroller and some small luggage. The true check of the boot might be an airport drop with the household and all their baggage occurring a protracted trip.

Whenever you drive an EV, you all the time have an eye fixed on the vary or SOC meter, which is a fats inexperienced bar on the infotainment display or a easy graphic within the instrument cluster. The truth is, aside from vary and SOC, you don’t get another information like real-time energy consumption or vary, and different graphs that the geek in each EV proprietor (or driver) want to know. We’ve mentioned this earlier than and we’ll say it once more, Audi’s infotainment system is a technology behind and we’ll have to attend for the Q6 (anticipated within the first quarter of 2025), the primary Audi to debut the corporate’s next-gen on-board tech, which is a quantum leap forward. Additionally, the Q8’s central display is sort of a fingerprint magnet and wishes fixed wiping to maintain it smudge-free.

Touchscreen a fingerprint magnet and wishes fixed cleansing.

Nevertheless, when you will have nice vary, you forgive an EV’s different shortcomings and I’ve to say that I used to be beautifully impressed by how steadily the Q8 Sportback e-tron’s battery depleted, even on the pretty steep three ghats alongside the best way. On the meals mall cease simply earlier than the Lonavala ghat, the Q8 e-tron misplaced simply 11 p.c over 67km and, 232km later on the foot off the Wai, the drop was simply 50 p.c. Having a half-full battery for the remaining 32km of the journey gave me sufficient margin (and confidence) to flooring it up the ghat, and never surprisingly, the Q8 e-tron guzzled volts at an alarming charge dropping 12 p.c of battery cost in simply 32km.

The factor is that the heavy Q8 e-tron isn’t notably environment friendly, however the 114kWh battery, the biggest amongst all EVs in India at this time, is what provides it this vary. Consider it like a gas-guzzling V8 with a 100-litre tank.

The flip facet of such a big battery is that it takes ages to cost. And by ages I imply 31 hours when plugged-in to an ordinary 15A socket at residence! The quicker choice was to drive to the 30kW DC quick charger at Dreamland lodge 2 kilometres away that might minimize the charging time to beneath 3 hours, nonetheless, that might have meant hanging round for as lengthy. Since I wasn’t going to be budging from the home, the home-sweet-home sluggish charging choice was way more handy, even when it charged at a glacial tempo. It additionally proves my level that nothing beats residence charging.

15 amp charger at residence took over 31 hours to cost battery from 38 to 100%, however this proved extra handy than driving to a DC quick charger.

Vary was much less of a fear on the return journey through Mahad, which is an efficient 30km shorter than the Pune route and the regen braking going downhill boosted vary too. Nevertheless, on the quick drive down, the large and heavy Q8 e-tron felt fairly ungainly and cumbersome on the tight and twisty mountain street, so I dialled it down a bit until I reached Poladapur on the foot of the ghat.

Over 2.5-tonne SUV feels ungainly in corners; rolls a good bit.

On the freeway, although, the Q8 e-tron is an excellent cruiser. It feels rock stable at pace, whisper quiet and makes an absolute non-event of any lengthy distance journey.

Feels solidly planted and whisper quiet at excessive pace.

NH66 remains to be a mixture of good, unhealthy and easily horrendous surfaces. However in contrast to the Mumbai-Pune Expressway, this previous Goa street is sort of empty; there aren’t any cameras and you may actually hoof it (on the nice bits), however that badly hurts vary and effectivity. The truth is, the Q8 e-tron was ‘thirstier’ on the drive down (simply 4.0km/kWh) however the shorter distance meant I received to workplace with a stable 160km left within the ‘tank’.

And the very best half? The journey was free! An analogous petrol luxurious SUV would have value me round Rs 12,000 in gasoline payments however with Q8 e-tron, I spent zilch.