{"id":50412,"date":"2023-12-04T16:20:06","date_gmt":"2023-12-04T16:20:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/highwaytale.com\/?p=50412"},"modified":"2023-12-04T16:20:06","modified_gmt":"2023-12-04T16:20:06","slug":"2024-audi-sq8-e-tron-has-more-epa-range-but-is-still-an-electron-guzzler","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/highwaytale.com\/car-reviews\/2024-audi-sq8-e-tron-has-more-epa-range-but-is-still-an-electron-guzzler\/","title":{"rendered":"2024 Audi SQ8 E-Tron Has More EPA Range But Is Still An Electron Guzzler"},"content":{"rendered":"
The 2024 Audi SQ8 e-tron and Audi SQ8 Sportback e-tron are the performance-oriented, tri-motor versions of the Audi Q8 e-tron and Audi Q8 Sportback e-tron models, which this year replaced the 2023 Audi e-tron, Audi e-tron Sportback, Audi S e-tron and Audi e-tron S Sportback.<\/p>\n
Aside from the new name, the latest generation of the electric Q8 and SQ8 has been equipped with a much higher capacity battery pack of 114 kilowatt-hours (106 kWh usable), compared to about 95 kWh in the original e-tron (up 20% or 19 kWh), which substantially increases the driving range.<\/p>\n
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Audi SQ8 e-tron<\/p>\n
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Audi SQ8 Sportback e-tron<\/p>\n
However, the recently published EPA energy consumption rating reveals that the Audi SQ8 e-tron and Audi SQ8 Sportback e-tron remain relatively hungry for electrons, especially with the optional fancy 22-inch wheels.<\/p>\n
The EPA Combined range of the SQ8 e-tron is 253 miles (about a fifth more than in the case of the previous generation of S e-tron), although it goes down to 218 miles when the larger wheels are selected:<\/p>\n
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SQ8 e-tron \/ SQ8 Sportback e-tron (20-inch): 253 miles (up 41-45 miles or 19-22%)<\/li>\n
SQ8 e-tron\u00a0\/ SQ8 Sportback e-tron (21\/22-inch): 218 miles (up 33-37 miles or 18-20%) [down 35 miles or 14% compared to 20-inch wheels]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
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The sporty SQ8 e-trons don’t get as much of an increase in range as the regular, dual-motor Q8 e-trons (by 26-32%) when switching from a 95-kWh to the new 114-kWh battery.<\/p>\n
The regular Q8 e-tron and\u00a0Q8 Sportback e-tron (both with 20-inch wheels) also have a higher range of 285 and 296 miles, respectively (300 miles in the special Ultra edition with 19-inch wheels). It means that those who prefer performance and great handling, according to InsideEVs<\/em>‘ recent test drive, have to give up at least 32-43 miles or about 11-15% of range when equipped with 20-inch wheels (67-78 miles or 24-26% with 22-inch wheels).<\/p>\n
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Energy consumption, including charging losses, of the 2024 Audi SQ8 e-tron and Audi SQ8 Sportback e-tron (20-inch) is estimated at 73 MPGe or about 462 watt-hours per mile, basically on par with the previous generation (there is a slight drop in the case of the Sportback version from 75 MPGe).<\/p>\n
For reference, the regular Q8 e-trons consume about 400 Wh per mile.<\/p>\n
The larger, 22-inch wheels increase the energy consumption of both models to 63 MPGe or about 535 Wh\/mi (up by almost 16%), making it kind of an electric guzzler.<\/p>\n