► An Ioniq 5 for the American wilderness
► New XRT variant beefs up Hyundai EV
► For those who ‘want to play in the dirt’
The weather has improved but the SQ8’s range hasn’t much – a full charge yields about 220 miles. Not quite enough to drive to Stratford-upon-Avon and back, including a visit to Cadbury World.
The whispering SQ8 is great on the motorway: it weighs 2.7 tonnes but evidently most of that is in sound-deadening. It’s efficient at 70mph too: we covered 93 miles at 2.3 miles per kWh, better than its official figure but way off acceptability. The big boot swallows weekend kit for five people, especially if you use the bonus spare wheel well space.
For the journey home I made a meticulous plan to charge using 7kW BP chargers in Market Place, Warwick, while we visited the castle. But alas the Audi’s erratic slow charging scuppered that: the car connected four times then malfunctioned, with the Audi app claiming ‘no mains voltage’ as a Mini piled in and connected first time. I wasted 30 minutes there, then had to stop for another 15 minutes to ultra-rapid charge on the way home: a let-down.
And yet a trip to Blackpool a couple of weeks later was fine. I used the Audi’s electric route planner, which calculates where to stop, for how long and how much battery will remain at your destination. And as you drive it’s always highlighting the nearest chargers, so I decided to take pot luck at Haydock FastNed. The Audi quaffed 52kWh in 22 minutes, with peak charging an impressive 146kW, while we supped coffee at the neighbouring Starbucks.
Another motorway strength is the SQ8’s air-sprung ride: it’s ripped like a bodybuilder but still fluid enough to ensure not a single abrupt jolt in 227 miles. Lane assist made a couple of interventions but it’s largely unobtrusive so no need to switch it off.
And the return journey with one 20-minute charge was also smooth: EV owners are really getting the hang of splash-and-dash stops – which keeps those charge bays flowing.
Logbook: Audi SQ8 e-Tron Black Edition (month 5)
Price: £103,310
Performance: 106kWh battery, three e-motors, 496bhp, 4.5sec 0-62mph, 130mph
Efficiency: 2.2 miles per kWh (official), 1.8 miles per kWh (tested), 0g/km CO2
Range: 269 miles (official), 191 miles (tested)
Energy cost: 20.0p per mile