Volkswagen, Audi, and Porsche have invested much in electric cars but have yet to make many of Tesla, Lucid, and other businesses’ groundbreaking innovations. The Audi Q6 E-Tron and Porsche Macan EV will be manufactured in 2024 using the Premium Platform Electric (PPE) design, which improves motor, battery, and charging tech. The rest of the site seems good too. E-Tron Q6? It’s the Porsche Macan EV’s more comfy, less sporty relative. It fits between the Q4 and Q8 E-Trons and is the same size as the Audi Q5 and Porsche Macan. It has a fresh, electric car-specific design. The following even number is an all-electric version. Audi’s new odd-numbered automobiles have internal combustion engines. The Q6 portfolio is projected to include a regular SUV with a square rear, a coupe-like Sportback, and SQ6 and RS Q6 variants that will partly overlap with the Macan or close the performance gap. A6 E-Tron design Audi Design head Marc Lichte would keep the same dash-to-axle proportions to make extra room on this new electric platform’s long wheelbase, broad track, and compact overhangs. SQ6 prototypes resemble the Ur Quattro’s fender bulges. Like many others, they have a body-color “shark fin” D-pillar and a black roof stretched by the spoiler. The matrix’s front daytime running lights illuminate the low and high beams with black plugs. In markets with competent governments that exploit cutting-edge lighting technology to its fullest, rear matrix lighting and cross-car OLED lighting can deliver messages and do other fascinating things. Audi Q6 E-Tron power and speed It’s inconceivable that the A6 E-Tron’s 470 horsepower and 590 pound-feet and the Macan’s top model’s 603 horsepower and 738 lb-ft powertrains won’t be available. Audi still needs to release numbers. These automobiles have e-Quattro all-wheel drive. Audi’s e-Quattro technology sends most of the power to the rear axle until the fronts are necessary for slippery conditions or to safely lift the car out of a corner, even though torque distribution changes. We’ll have to wait and see if this is done automatically, with a more robust rear motor, with variable front-to-back final drive ratios, or with all three. Vehicle mechanic The suspension tightens crucial corners to make flat turning easier without active anti-roll bars. Steel or airframes and adjustable damping are available. A steering rack linked to the front cross member and a five-link front suspension with revised kinematics and stiffness eliminates the steering input-chassis reaction latency. This makes you feel speedier and less like you’re carrying a hefty battery. It works with variable-rate quick-ratio steering. Finally, a new integrated brake system should make friction-to-regenerative braking easier. While coasting, the shift paddles let you choose from three regeneration levels and stop with one leg in “B” mode. EV hairpins win. After writing about Lucid’s weaving stator windings and ZF’s braided windings, we were shocked to find individual copper hairpins, each with two free ends that need laser welding. The Porsche/Audi development team argues the copper bar-stock bending structure gets more copper closer to the rotor than these other systems. It reduces construction costs and improves reliability. (This notion was proposed a few years ago as a significant improvement over the continuous round-section wire windings most Teslas employed until recently.) The site’s first P indicates laser welding funding. We hope the joints last. Cooling the rotor reduces rare earths. Audi uses oil to cool its electric motors through stator tunnels. PPE passageways are outside the stator, while Lucid passages are inside the windings. Oil exits Lucid motors through copper wire holes. This cools motors more. PPE uses fat from the rotor shaft to cool the rotor like Lucid. Permanent-magnet motors generate lots of power, which heats the magnets. Rare-earth minerals can resist extreme heat. PPE can employ cheaper, powerful interests by keeping them cool. Unlike Lucid, PPE uses an external, single-speed, helical-gear reduction drive with differential gearing. Limited slip won’t launch. Brakes govern torque vectoring. Two 400V/800V batteries “What’s all the fuss about?” asks one. GM Ultium and other packs may already do this. PPE battery architecture reverses Ultium. The battery and system are both 800 volts. The group can be divided in half and paralleled to form two 400-volt packs for slower battery charging. The 800-volt architecture allows the platform to halve the current needed to transfer power practically. This makes the orange motor wires half as big, expensive, and heavy. Silicon carbide transformers increase strength and range. 100 kWh (Gross) gives over 370 miles. For this first use, 12 units of 15 prismatic cells are stacked to form 180 prismatic cells. PPE can have larger wheels, tracks, ground clearance, and batteries. 95 kWh of 100 kWh capacity can be used. EPA range is 330–350 miles. NMC or LFP? We don’t know. It will charge from 0 to 80% in 30 minutes, adding 186 miles in the first 10. The highest charging rate is 270 kW, 80 kW less than the best 800-volt auto chargers’ 350 kW. Audi’s battery pack warms up faster at 350 kW than at 270 kW. Therefore, their approach can maintain the peak charging rate at 270 kW longer than competitors at 350 kW. The onboard 11-kW charger can charge at Level 2 using a 50-amp outlet. Dual-sided charging ports The PPE’s rear quarter panels feature charge connectors; however, connecting to both sides won’t charge faster. Only the left side supports complete CCS DC rapid charging. This could simplify parking at Level 2 chargers at home or work. Other Audi E-Tron cars offer this helpful feature. Audi Q6 E-Tron release date and price Europe will get the Q6 this fall, and North America in early 2024. The top-of-the-line RS Q6 Sportback will cost $85,000, while the Q6 and SQ6 will be roughly $65,000. The Audi or Porsche-made PPE architecture is quite advanced. Could it ultimately beat the Tesla Model Y?
