The Audi A6 Avant e-tron concept previews the brand’s first fully electric estate, with a range of up to 435 miles and a 5-80% charge taking less than 25 minutes…
On sale: 2024| Price from: £60,000 (est)
If you have a green conscience and you also happen to own a dog, there aren’t that many cars to choose from other than an electric SUV. But Audi is looking to change that with the Audi A6 Avant e-tron concept – a fully electric estate car which previews a future rival to the Porsche Taycan Cross Turismo and Sport Turismo – the only premium electric estate cars currently on sale.
Following on from the Audi A6 Sportback e-tron concept which was unveiled last year, the A6 Avant e-tron concept is essentially an estate version of that car, and they will both be based on the same bespoke electric underpinnings. These new underpinnings will also feature on the upcoming Q6 e-tron SUV, and also form the basis of the new fully electric Porsche Macan.
Much of the design of the A6 Avant e-tron concept has been centred around aerodynamics, and this is evident with the silhouette of the car – which is long and low slung. Up front, the car features a closed-off version of Audi’s signature grille design, which will house the car’s radars and sensors. Below this sits heavily sculpted air intakes which help to cool both the battery and brakes.
The sleek looking headlights are also adaptive, which means they can automatically dip to cut out oncoming traffic. What’s more, they also double as high-resolution LED digital projectors – which means that the driver and passenger can play video games if, for example, parked up against a wall at night when charging. It’s unlikely this feature will make it to production, however.
Around the side, a distinctive long piece of aluminium runs along the roof of the car and eventually wraps around the rear – where it also doubles as a functional roof spoiler.
A ‘3D’ OLED light bar also spans the width of the rear end, and sitting below that is a functional air diffuser – which gives the rear end a more powerful, squatted stance. The light bar is also fully customisable, as with the front. This means that the driver can adjust the pattern of the LED lights to suit their personal preference.
Audi is yet to unveil the interior of the A6 Avant e-tron concept, but we can expect it to be similar to the Audi e-tron GT’s. That car features a dual screen set-up for both the infotainment screen and the ‘virtual cockpit’ digital dashboard, the former which is 10.1in in size and the latter 12.3in.
The e-tron GT also features a mixture of both touchscreen and physical buttons for the climate controls, which is a set-up we prefer over purely touch-based systems – largely because the latter can be distracting to operate while driving. This is in contrast to other Audi cars, such as the E-tron SUV, which uses a dual touchscreen set-up.
Semi-autonomous driving technology will also be offered on the A6 Avant e-tron, and this means that the car will be capable of accelerating and steering without full human intervention. However, this is unlikely to be available from launch.
The current A6 Avant has a boot space of 565 litres with the seats folded up, and 1680 litres with the seats folded down. This is marginally smaller than the BMW 5 Series Touring and Mercedes E-Class Estate, but we can expect the A6 Avant e-tron to have a boot capacity in-line with these cars. A front boot or ‘froot’ should also be offered to help increase the luggage capacity.
Under the skin, the A6 Avant e-tron concept features a 100kWh battery and front and rear mounted electric motors, and together they deliver 463bhp and 590lb ft of torque. The battery size is also scalable, which means that a smaller capacity battery will be available later on. This will lower the price of the A6 Avant e-tron, and it’s likely to be available with a single motor.
With the larger 100kWh battery, the Audi A6 Avant e-tron concept can travel up to 435 miles according to official tests. This is significantly more than the Porsche Taycan 4S Cross Turismo, which can travel up to 277 miles in official tests, and it’s also slightly more than the Mercedes EQE saloon with its 410 miles of official range. A smaller battery in the A6 Avant e-tron will likely have a 70kWh capacity, with an official range in the region of 300 miles.
The A6 Avant e-tron will also be available with 800v charging capability, which like the E-tron GT, means that the car can be charged at up to 270kW. A 5-80% charge is therefore achieved in up to 25 minutes, and a 10 minute charge is also said to add up to 186 miles if you can find a suitably powerful charging point.
Top-of-the-line dual motor versions of the A6 Avant e-tron will offer a 0-62mph sprint below 4.0sec, and lower powered single motor versions will offer a sub 7.0sec time. A high-performance RS version of the A6 Avant e-tron is also said to be on the way, along with a more rugged Allroad version.
Audi still plans to sell the A6 Avant e-tron and A6 Sportback e-tron alongside the regular combustion engine A6s, and we can expect the production version of the A6 Avant e-tron to arrive in 2024.
Pricing will likely start from £60,000 for the single motor version, which is more than the combustion engine A6 Avant, which currently starts from £42,050. More high-powered versions will be priced in the region of £70,000, which would then place the A6 Avant e-tron in-line with the Porsche Taycan Sport Turismo – which currently starts from £73,705.
Keyword: 2024 Audi A6 Avant e-tron revealed: price, specs and release date