2025 Audi Q6 E-Tron costs forward of the remaining

• Q6 E-Tron EV is Audi’s first on PPE platform shared with Porsche
• Arrives earlier than the top of the yr in Q6 and SQ6 kinds
• California drive prompt round 300 miles from 100 kwh isn’t a stretch
• Roomy, snug inside and good experience high quality; quirky regenerative braking

With its 2025 Q6 E-Tron lineup, Audi helps clear up a pesky logic downside that has plagued the entire spherical of electrical sport-utility automobile entries from German luxurious manufacturers over the previous few years. 

SUVs are immediately’s household automobiles of selection. And luxurious manufacturers love stating that point is the brand new luxurious. 

Then, why are so many luxurious electrical SUVs time bandits, leaving you to spend extra time within the outer fringes of big-box parking tons charging up for the following stretch on the freeway—whereas these within the mass-market Teslas, Hyundais, and Kias come and go?

The German luxurious institution would possibly lastly get it and be fixing this conundrum with next-generation EVs. However Porsche apart, Audi’s the one one right here proper now with circa-20-minute charging in a roomy-but-not humongous two-row luxurious automobile. 

In a primary drive expertise final week within the 2025 Audi Q6, I didn’t get far sufficient to warrant a road-trip cost; nevertheless it helped underscore that this new automobile household is mostly much better at avoiding a charging cease than its This fall E-Tron and Q8 E-Tron counterparts.

2025 Audi Q6 E-Tron

Q6 E-Tron household is usually over the 300-mile mark

The Audi Q6 E-Tron household’s driving vary spans from 321 miles for the rear-wheel-drive Q6 E-tron, to 307 miles in E-Tron quattro (dual-motor all-wheel-drive) type, to 275 miles in SQ6 E-Tron quattro type. 

Over an 83-mile drive with the Q6 E-Tron quattro and a 102-mile drive within the SQ6—each emphasizing a mixture of tightly curved Sonoma two-laners with quick stints on US-101, we averaged 3.0 miles per kwh general. That’s a wonderful outcome contemplating we have been additionally driving to discover the experience, dealing with, and general dynamics of the automobile—I’ll get to that shortly—with out a variety of heed to environment friendly driving. It must also be famous that we noticed 2.9 mi/kwh within the Q6 E-Tron and three.1 mi/kwh within the SQ6—maybe extra a sign of some extra afternoon site visitors than anything. 

Audi says that in comparison with the Q8 E-Tron, the Q6 E-Tron has a 33% enchancment in efficiency and a 30% discount in power consumption. A shift to an 800 volts for the battery and propulsion system, borrowing knowledge from the Porsche Taycan and associated Audi E-Tron GT, is on the core of the increase in effectivity and vary, which makes the charging good points all of the extra significant. 

2025 Audi Q6 E-Tron

Audi Q6 E-Tron goals for center, makes it lux

With them, the Q6 E-Tron does certainly slot proper into the center of Audi’s lineup—particularly proper into the center of its North American lineup. It’s about eight inches longer than the This fall E-Tron and a foot shorter than the Audi Q8 E-Tron, nevertheless it finally ends up feeling almost as massive inside because the latter. And whereas its 187.8 inches of general size and 113.7-inch wheelbase are solely 3.5 and a pair of.7 inches larger than that of the Q5 gasoline SUV—with lower than a pair inches further in general peak and width—the Q6 feels virtually a dimension bigger. 

These packaging benefits over the Q5 are made attainable by what the Q6 was constructed on. It’s the launch automobile for Premium Platform Electrical (PPE), a devoted EV platform that didn’t permit for combustion-engine house and aimed for diminished part dimensions and weight, plus robust efficiency. Initially shared with the Porsche Macan Electrical, PPE is ready to be utilized by the Q6 Sportback and A6 sedan lineup, each on the best way subsequent yr. 

2025 Audi Q6 E-Tron

2025 Audi Q6 E-Tron

2025 Audi Q6 E-Tron

The packaging isn’t all excellent. If there’s a flaw right here it’s that the rear door cuts are a bit of too quick. Whereas it means a bit of wedging for taller of us to get in (or a smaller house for leaning in on tots), there was loads of house for this 6-foot-6 beanpole to sit down behind myself. 

The ground is low, signaling some good packaging selections with the battery pack, and there’s a 2.3-cubic-foot frunk that’s about the correct dimension for a big daypack or carry-on—or stashing your cell cost twine. In again, you get 30.2 cubic ft of cargo house with the rear seatback up, or 60.2 cubic ft with them flipped ahead—a major quantity greater than the Q5’s 25.9 and 54.1 cubic ft.

2025 Audi Q6 E-Tron

Q6 E-Tron batteries, motors, and extra

What’s beneath? Maintaining the battery pack modestly sized was an awesome begin. Including as much as 100 kwh gross, or 94.4 kwh usable, it’s configured round 12 modules and 15 prismatic cells per module—for a complete of 180 cells. It’s much less advanced versus the Q8 E-Tron’s 36 modules and 432 complete cells, and the brand new pack permits particular person modules to simply get replaced.

All fashions have a permanent-magnet motor unit on the rear wheels, and variations with quattro all-wheel drive get an induction motor on the entrance wheels. That basically permits them to change off the entrance motor, with out drag, in cruising and light-weight coasting conditions, and weight financial savings and silicon carbide energy electronics save weight and power right here, too. 

Whereas the battery capability could be the identical, Audi is utilizing two completely different EV battery cell chemistries, from two completely different international suppliers—Samsung SDI and CATL. Their lithium nickel cobalt aluminum oxide (NCA) and nickel manganese cobalt (NMC) cells, as a consequence of slight variations optimizing the cost, get to 80% in 22 or 21 minutes, respectively—with quattro and SQ6 variations getting the NMC cells for his or her barely higher tolerance of warmth in efficiency conditions. 

2025 Audi SQ6 E-Tron

Q6 E-Tron charging, brake regen

Quick-charging peaks at 260 and 270 kw, respectively, for these packs, with the 350-kw CCS DC fast-charging connectors which are more and more frequent within the U.S. An adapter for Tesla NACS connectors is ready to reach within the subsequent yr. On DC fast-charging tools restricted to lower than 800 volts—like a lot of the Tesla Supercharger community at current—Audi’s enabled 400V charging at a peak round 135 kw, by operating the pack as two parallel 400-volt packs, permitting that 10-80% cost in round 35 minutes. Audi says that with a predictive thermal administration system and battery administration controller developed for this platform, fast-charges shall be faster and extra environment friendly, and it’s planning so as to add a guide preconditioning setting for the U.S. (to permit for stations that aren’t but in route planning, as an example). 

For house charging, by the best way, the 11-kw onboard charger permits you to faucet into cost ports on both facet of the automobile (DC solely on the motive force’s facet), and with a 9.6-kw house cost connector on a 50-amp circuit, a full cost ought to take not more than 10 hours. 

The Q6 E-Tron packs a variety of power again away to the battery pack each time you gradual or cease; nevertheless it’s a special method than what you’ll discover in lots of different EVs. In its default settings, the Q6 lineup likes to glide if you raise off the accelerator, except you intentionally choose different settings at every key cycle. Audi factors out that its stepped up the precise brake regeneration that you just faucet into when stepping on the brake pedal, to a most of 0.30 g, a stage that many stops solely use the friction pads the previous few ft. 

2025 Audi Q6 E-Tron

2025 Audi Q6 E-Tron

2025 Audi Q6 E-Tron

Shift to ‘D’ and the default setting takes you to an Auto deceleration mode that may be a little bit of a black field. It faucets into inputs from the forward-facing digital camera, together with the space to automobiles forward, in addition to site visitors and navigation knowledge, making choices concerning the curves alongside the street forward—however arriving at unpredictable ranges of regen that aren’t confirmed on the sprint as you raise off the accelerator. Trying to glide round a roundabout, as an example, warranted an surprising ramp-up in regen. 

You do have selections, although, and it’s the best way to go. From ‘D’ with the steering-wheel paddles you possibly can click on by means of ranges 0, 1, and a pair of, starting from a flat-neutral coast, to 0.06 g (about like a gasoline automotive in ‘D’), to 0.15 g (assume downshifting one gear). Choose ‘B’ on the very odd shift selector—considered one of my peeves with this automobile—and also you dial up a totally completely different character, with a full 0.25 g of regen if you raise off the accelerator. 

2025 Audi Q6 E-Tron

Audi Q6 E-Tron worth and worth

The 2025 Audi Q6 E-Tron quattro we spent a lot of the day with began at $67,095, together with the $1,295 vacation spot price, and added the $6,800 Status bundle, $1,300 Heat Climate bundle (leather-based upholstery, cooled entrance seats, Bang & Olufsen audio), and $1,000 20-inch wheel bundle. That introduced the overall as examined to $76,195.

The quattro is true in the midst of the lineup, and it makes 356 hp in its launch mode and may get to 60 mph in 4.9 seconds. Rear-wheel-drive Q6 E-Tron variations make 322 hp and take 6.3 seconds. SQ6 E-Tron bump energy to 509 hp and may get from 0-60 mph in 4.1 seconds. 

The Status bundle, which I didn’t check a Q6 E-Tron with out, provides two options that may change the basic really feel of the automobile: an adaptive air suspension, and acoustic glass in entrance. 

To these two factors: The Q6 E-Tron doesn’t really feel tuned like a efficiency automobile, and we famous a good quantity of pitchiness that bought in the best way of backroad poise. This isn’t a automobile that invitations driving roads. Regardless of all of the weight-saving measures within the propulsion system, this automobile weighs almost 5,300 kilos—however the air suspension and buttoned-down damping do assist calm massive physique motions underneath arduous acceleration and robust braking, making it really feel very assured general.  

2025 Audi Q6 E-Tron

However as I notice in a companion evaluate of the 2025 Audi SQ6 over at Motor Authority, what quantities to a collective set of tuning and {hardware} variations quantities to a really different-feeling automobile that I really loved driving rather more, whereas solely modestly costlier and fewer environment friendly. 

Q6 E-Tron Status variations additionally get acoustic entrance glass, and it’s arduous to inform what extra noise this helps quell, because the Q6 E-Tron may be very, very quiet inside—a lot that it made us query why Audi has three simulated propulsion ranges inside, with none of them utterly off. 

Q6 E-Tron household will get all-new interface

The Status bundle additionally contains some head-turning customized OLED exterior lighting, plus a noteworthy piece of know-how in entrance of the passenger—a ten.9-inch entrance passenger show, with an energetic privateness filter, that lets the passenger view, talk, or play DJ. 

2025 Audi Q6 E-Tron

It’s all a part of a revamped interface the model is looking the Audi Digital Stage, wrapping a 11.9-inch configurable cockpit display screen with a 14.5-inch OLED touchscreen in a curved panoramic design, in addition to an augmented actuality head-up show that appeared to jam a variety of data in entrance of the motive force (we turned it off, however appreciated the directional lighting throughout the sprint. It’s shifted seemingly all the local weather controls into the display screen space, however over the course of a day’s drive I discovered a lot of the controls, with a primary menu of icons on the left rail signifying gadgets like sound, navigation, cellphone, and the like, fairly intuitive. 

Audi has additionally added a brand new AI-informed digital assistant that may carry out some duties (like turning down the very robust heated seats) flawlessly—and it doesn’t seem to wish an information connection for every thing. 

Whereas the Q8 E-Tron (and its E-Tron SUV predecessor) was among the many first electrical SUVs available on the market—a full yr earlier than the Tesla Mannequin Y—the model has proven it’s discovered and improved in almost each respect with the Q6 E-Tron and its underlying PPE platform. For these holding out for better-driving, longer-range, faster-charging luxurious EVs, they’re right here.