Audi e-tron 70 MPH Highway Range Test

It's the e-tron's turn to get its highway range rated.

24:15

Tom Moloughney

By: Tom Moloughney

Sep 24, 2020 at 12:13pm ET

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We fully charge a 2019 Audi e-tron, take it out on the highway and drive it at a constant 70 mph to see just how far it will go. Yep, it's the e-tron's turn for the InsideEVs 70 mph highway range test.

We've been trying to secure an Audi e-tron for our highway range test here for a while now, as many of the readers have been asking for it. Unfortunately, Audi no longer has e-trons in its media fleet, so we can't get one the usual way. Fortunately, Kyle Conner has a friend that owns a 2019 e-tron and was gracious enough to loan it to him for the range and charging tests.

e-tron range test

The 2019 e-tron is EPA range rated at 204 miles (328 km) per charge. It has a 95 kWh battery, of which only 83.6 kWh is usable. When Audi launched the e-tron, it was extremely conservative with the battery buffer and held back 12% of the battery, which is more than most electric vehicle manufacturers do.

It does seem as though Audi now believes they were too conservative, because for 2021, the e-tron will gain access to nearly 3 more kWh of energy. The usable battery capacity for the 2021 e-tron will jump to 86.5 kWh. That, plus some software enhancements, will increase the e-tron's EPA-rated range from 204 miles to 222 miles (357 km).

However, Kyle drove a 2019 e-tron with 83.6 kWh of available energy, and the car also had the optional 21" wheels, which will probably shave a few more miles of range off of the vehicle. That said, the e-tron performed admirably, and Kyle was able to clock 188.4 miles (303 km) in the test, falling short of the EPA-rated range by 15.6 miles (24 km).

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During the test, the e-tron averaged a thirsty 2.3 mi/kWh (26.96 kWh/100km), which is easily the highest consumption rating we've seen on our highway range tests to date. It's important to note that as we always do, Kyle set the tires to the manufacturer's recommended pressure before starting out, and he also checked the e-tron's speedometer against GPS to verify its accuracy.

The temperature was a mild 73°F (23°C) when Kyle began the drive, and about 65°F (18°C) when he finished up, so that shouldn't have played too much of a role in the loss of range from cold or HVAC use. Kyle always checks his wind app to see if that will be an issue, and he reported that there was basically no wind, so that shouldn't have been much of a factor either.

The e-tron sits right in the middle of the pack in the InsideEVs 70 mph highway range test results:

70 mph highway range test chart

About our highway range tests:

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We always like to mention that these range tests aren't perfect. There are variables out of our control like wind, traffic, topography, and weather. However, we do our best to control what we can. We do these 70 mph range tests to provide another data point for potential customers that are looking for as much information on the driving range as they can get. Check out our previous 70 mph highway range tests for the vehicles listed below:

We'd like to hear your thoughts on Kyle's test and its results. Were you surprised, or are the results pretty much what you expected? Having driven e-trons I was personally thinking he would get a little less, and average 2.1 to 2.2 mi/kWh, to finish up with about 170-180 miles. Let us know what you think in the comment section below. And be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel by clicking here.

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