Audi SQ8 e-tron first drive: This tri-motor EV drives nimbly for its size, but sacrifices a lot of range
Last week, I got the invite from Audi to venture to (normally) sunny Los Angeles and take a spin behind the wheel of its latest EV model – the SQ8 e-tron. Available as a standard quattro and Sportback version, the tri-motor SQ8 takes the previously launched Q8 e-tron and refines it in a number of ways to improve performance… well, everything aside from range, that is.
The Audi SQ8 e-tron arrives as a familiar, yet refreshed spin on the German automaker’s second wave if you will, of all-electric vehicles. The Volkswagen Group sub-brand was one of the early adopters of electrification with the original e-tron SUV back in 2018, followed by the e-tron GT and RS e-tron GT in 2020, the e-tron S and Sportback in 2021, and the Q4 e-tron and Sportback in 2022.
Earlier this year, I flew out to wine country to test drive the Q8 e-tron and Sportback – Audi’s design refresh and rebranding of the original e-tron for the new electric age, in which all future BEVs will be even numbered, while all ICE vehicles will be odd (appropriately so).
While the Q8 e-tron didn’t appear to stray too far from the last variation under the lone e-tron nomenclature, the EV’s platform architecture told a different story. Audi successfully improved its battery and motor design within both the Q8 e-tron SUV and Sportback, utilizing every inch of the EV’s battery modules by stacking their prismatic cells rather than winding them. The result is a battery pack that delivers nearly 20 kWh more gross capacity (114 kWh vs. 95 kWh) – all in the same footprint.
Audi was also able to achieve a range increase around 20%, eclipsing 300 miles on a single charge for the first time. With its next variant, the SQ8 e-tron, Audi has further improved the driving experience of the Q8 e-tron inside and out.
Audi SQ8 e-tron improvements and other specs
The all-electric SQ8 picks up where Audi left off with the Q8 e-tron earlier this year, bringing an even keener focus on aerodynamics. Not to be confused with the e-tron S, or the e-tron S-Line, the SQ8 e-tron saw a completely redone suspension, steering, and integrated control modules
Features like revamped air curtains and new wheel spoilers that funnel air under the body and around the car to reduce drag on the wheels help deliver improved aero. Audi says it has reduced drag by up to 6% on the SQ8 e-tron.
Other features include dimpled fiberglass on the underbody cover (golf ball principle) and active shutters which were resurrected from the design of the original e-tron. As with other e-tron models, Audi is one of the few automakers that offers 9.6 kW AC charging points on both sides of the vehicle, with an optional upgrade to 19.2 kW. Only the driver’s side has DC capabilities, however.
The 2024 SQ8 e-tron arrives in both a standard and Sportback version – both tri-motor, both Audi quattro design. The specs between the two variants are virtually the same, except the Sportback is half an inch shorter in height and leaves slightly less headroom and cargo space in its interior. Here are some additional specs:
- Motor: 3x asychronous electric motors
- Peak Horsepower: 496 hp (370 kW)
- Torque: 718 lb.-ft. (in Boost Mode) (972 Nm)
- Battery Size/Type: 114 kWh (gross) / 397V Lithium Ion
- Max Charging Capacity (AC): 9.6 kW (19.2 kW Optional)
- Max Charging Capacity (DC): 170 kW
- Level 2 Charging (9.6 kW – 240V @ 40A): 13 hours
- Level 2 Charging (19.2 kW – 240V @ 80A): 6.5 hours
- DC Fast Charging (170 kW): 31 minutes (10-80%)
- 0-60 mph Acceleration: 4.2 seconds (0-100 km/h – 4.6 seconds)
- Top Speed: 130 mph (210 km/h)
- Max Towing Capacity: 4,000 lbs.
- Curb Weight: 6,118 lbs.
- EPA Range (20″ wheels): 253 miles
- EPA Range (22″ wheels): 218 miles
Next, let’s check out some images of the Audi SQ8 e-trons interior before I dig into my drive experience and we talk pricing. Have a look:
Before we got out on the uncharacteristically wet and rainy roads of Malibu last week, Audi’s senior manager of product planning, Anthony Garbis, explained to us how quiet the new SQ8 e-tron is, going as far as saying it’s as quiet or quieter and an A8, which is super insulated. Garbis wasn’t lying.
One of the perks I pointed out during my drive in the Q8 e-tron this past May, was how quiet of a ride it was, but the SQ8 takes it to another level. I took a moment to pause Sirius XM and ride in the silence of the canyons above Los Angeles, hearing nothing but the rain being kicked up by the e-tron’s EV tires from Hankook. I took a video, but it doesn’t do it justice because of the pouring rain, but it’s quiet, trust me.
Because of the rain and several conservative LA drivers on the wet windy roads, I didn’t get as many opportunities to make the tires squeal as I wanted. That said, there were two points in between rainfalls where I found a straightaway and was able to get my SQ8 e-tron (cover your ears Audi) WELL over the speed limit (let’s just leave it at that).
As a sportier version of the Audi Q8 e-tron, the SQ8 did not disappoint on acceleration, although it honestly didn’t drive like a tri-motor EV. It definitely still felt like a dual motor in my opinion. Perhaps if I was able to hit some hairpins a little harder on dry pavement, I could have felt the torque vectoring, but unfortunately, Mother Nature said otherwise that day.
At over 6,100 pounds, the SQ8 e-tron is a sturdy gal, but it drives a lot nimbler. I believe I mentioned in my review of the Q8 e-tron that I hit a couple turns in Napa a little too hard at the start and quickly realized just how large and heavy that SUV is. While the SQ8 is very comparable to the Q8 e-tron, I found it drove a lot smaller than it looks.
The leather handle in the center console pictured above is an excellent touch in my opinion and the perfect place to rest your hand when cruising. The head up display (HUD) was easily visible and showed navigation and the haptic response of the touch screen was welcomed.
My only issue with the UX is that it was too many tap throughs to switch drive modes when I wanted to test out Dynamic Mode and experience the full horsepower and torque vectoring. Especially when driving on winding roads when you need to be paying close attention. There could have been a way to do it from the steering wheel, but I couldn’t seem to find it during all my fiddling around during my drive.
In my opinion, the Audi SQ8 e-tron is a slightly sportier version of the Q8 e-tron, but with red brake calipers and some unique badging throughout. I hear “tri-motor” and think “Plaid” or “Sapphire,” but that’s not the level of acceleration you’re going to get in this heavy SUV.
Performance-wise, its more than adequate, but the sacrifice to range you have to make for the powertrain performance doesn’t seem worth it to me. I’d rather take the 300 miles on the Q8 e-tron personally. That said, it’s still an Audi through and through. The quality of the design and the interior especially is luxe, everything worked easily and efficiently, and it made for a quiet, smooth, and relaxing ride – even at high speeds. The SUV screams quality and comfort inside and out.
I also absolutely loved the metallic blue exterior color I drove on my SQ8 e-tron and hope consumers will opt for that shade if and when they buy – I wanna see more bright blue cars on roads.
If you are interested in exploring an Audi SQ8 e-tron, the quattro version will begin at an MSRP of $90,995, while the Sportback version starts at $93,795. Note, those prices already include $1,195 in destination fees. The EVs are expected to hit Audi showrooms in Q4 of this year.
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The BP logo is displayed outside a petrol station that also offers electric vehicle recharging, on Feb. 27, 2025, in Somerset, England.
Anna Barclay | Getty Images News | Getty Images
BP shares jumped on Wednesday after activist investor Elliott went public with a stake of more than 5% in the struggling British oil major, which has pivoted back to oil in a bid to restore investor confidence.
BP shares were last seen up 4.75% at 9:44 a.m. London time. The London-listed stock price is down around 5% year-to-date.
Hedge fund Elliott Management has built its holding in the British oil major to 5.006%, according to a regulatory filing disclosed late Tuesday. BP’s other large shareholders include BlackRock, Vanguard and Norway’s sovereign wealth fund.
Elliott was first reported to have assumed a position in the oil and gas company back in February, driving a share rally amid expectations that its involvement could pressure BP to shift gears from its green strategy and back toward its core oil and gas businesses.
Within weeks, BP, which has been lagging domestic peer Shell and transatlantic rivals and posted a steep drop in fourth-quarter profit, announced plans to ramp up fossil fuel investments to $10 billion through 2027. This marked a sharp strategic departure for the company, which five years ago became one of the first energy giants to announce plans to cut emissions to net zero “by 2050 or sooner.” As part of that push, the company pledged to slash emissions by up to 40% by 2030 and to ramp up investment in renewables projects.
The oil major scaled back this emissions target to 20% to 30% in February 2023, saying at the time that it needed to keep investing in oil and gas to meet global demand.
Since switching gears, BP’s CEO Murray Auchincloss and outgoing Chair Helge Lund — who is expected to depart the company in 2026 — retained their posts but were penalized with reduced support during BP’s board re-election vote earlier this month amid pressure from both revenue and climate-focused investors.
BP’s strategic reset back to the company’s oil and gas activities took place just as crude prices began to plunge amid volatility triggered by U.S. tariffs and Washington’s trade spat with China, the world’s largest crude importer.
Energy analysts have broadly welcomed the strategic reset, and BP CEO Murray Auchincloss has since said the pivot attracted “significant interest” in the firm’s non-core assets.
The energy firm nevertheless remains firmly in the spotlight as a potential takeover target, with the likes of Shell and U.S. oil giants Exxon Mobil and Chevron touted as possible suitors.
BP is scheduled to report first-quarter earnings on Tuesday. The company has said it anticipates lower reported upstream production and higher net debt in the first quarter than in the final three months of 2024.
Tesla’s earnings report dropped today, and news isn’t great. But instead of recognizing his failures that have led to Tesla’s downturn, CEO Elon Musk lashed out with conspiracy theories while also hypocritically failing to acknowledge that his company was only profitable this quarter due to regulatory credits.
The numbers are in on Tesla’s dismal quarter, with sales, profits and margins tanking significantly for the company despite a rising global EV market.
You’d expect a drop in car sales to be top of mind for a car company, but instead of talking about this, CEO Elon Musk opened the call by talking about his ineffective advisory role to a former reality TV host.
Musk is heading up the self-styled “Department of Government Efficiency,” an advisory group that is focused on reducing redundancy in government. The office is not an actual government department and has a redundant mission to the Government Accountability Office, which is an actual government department focused on reducing government waste.
Musk originally claimed that the department would be able to save $2 trillion for the US government, which is actually impossible because federal discretionary spending is $1.7 trillion, which is a (gets out abacus) smaller number than $2 trillion.
He has, of course, failed at this task that anyone with any level of competence would have known was impossible before setting it out for themselves, and now projects that the department will save $150 billion next year, less than a tenth of his original estimate. But even that projection is likely an overstatement, given that most of the supposed savings that DOGE has found are not actual savings at all.
On top of this, the US government’s deficit has grown to the second-highest level on record – with the first happening in 2020, the last time Mr. Trump squatted in the White House. Which means the government isn’t saving money, it is in fact borrowing and spending more of it than ever before.
So, Musk’s tenure in the advisory board has been an unmitigated failure by any realistic account.
But if you listened to Tesla’s call, you wouldn’t have known this, as Musk was quite boastful of his efforts – starting a Tesla conference call with an irrelevant rant about his fake government department, instead of with Tesla business.
He claimed that he has made “a lot of progress in addressing waste and fraud” and that the job is “mostly done,” which is not correct by his own metrics. Musk stated that his purpose is “trying to bring in the insane deficit that is leading our country, the United States, to destruction,” and as we covered above, that deficit has only increased.
But he also went on to spew some rather insane conspiracy theories about the reasons behind his company’s recent failures, all of which of course put the blame on someone else, rather than himself. The buck stops anywhere but here, I guess.
His primary assertion was that the “blowback from the time I’ve been spending in government” (which, again, is an advisory role, not an actual government position) has come mainly from protesters that were “receiving fraudulent money” and are now angry that the government money spigot has been turned off.
Which, of course, he’s provided no evidence for… and he’s provided no evidence for it because it’s false.
Besides, that’s not how protests work. But incorrect claims that protests do work that way are often used by opponents of free speech, with the motivation of putting a chilling effect public participation. Fitting behavior for an enemy of the First Amendment like Elon Musk.
Meanwhile, this assertion also comes from a person who tried and failed to bribe voters to win an election. Perhaps his admiration of Tesla protesters is aspirational – he wishes his ideas were good enough to inspire that sort of grassroots political effort that money, demonstrably, cannot buy.
But this hypocrisy extends beyond Musk’s hatred of free expression, and strikes at the heart of the business he is the titular leader of, Tesla, the organization that has made him into the richest man in the world. Because not only is it not true that Tesla protests are driven by his ineffective government actions (they are, in fact, driven by him doing Nazi stuff all the time), it’s also objectively true that Musk’s companies are a large recipient of government money.
And that’s particularly relevant today, to the very earnings call where Musk made his ridiculous assertion, because in Q1 2025, Tesla only turned a profit due to government credits. Without them, it would have lost money.
Tesla only profitable in Q1 due to regulatory credits
Per today’s earnings report, Tesla earned $595 million in regulatory credits in Q1. But its total net income for the quarter was $409 million.
This means that without those regulatory credits, Tesla would have posted a -$189 million loss in Q1. It was saved not just by credit sales, but credit sales which increased year over year – in the year-ago quarter, Tesla made $442 million in regulatory credits, despite having higher sales in Q1 2024 than in Q1 2025. So not only were credits higher, but credits per vehicle were higher.
This is a common feature of Tesla earnings, and we even said in our earnings preview that we expected it. While Tesla had a bad quarter, nobody expected it to become actually unprofitable, because there was always the possibility of increasing regulatory credit sales to eke out a profitable quarter.
And this has been the case many times in Tesla’s past, as well. In earlier times, Tesla’s first few profitable quarters were decried by the company’s opponents as an accounting trick, suggesting that regulatory credit sales weren’t “real” profits, and that the cars should have to stand on their own.
This is a silly thing to say – businesses do business in the environment that exists, and every business has an incentive structure that includes subsidies and externalities. If we were to selectively write off certain profits for certain businesses, we could make a tortured case that any business isn’t profitable.
Plus, these opponents didn’t extend the same treatment to the oil industry, which is subsidized to the tune of $760 billion per year in the US alone in unpriced externalities, yet that is somehow never mentioned during their earnings calls.
Musk has even claimed, probably correctly, that if all subsidies were eliminated both for EVs and for oil & gas, that EVs would come out ahead compared to the status quo (more recently, Musk has become one of the biggest funders of anti-EV forces, allying himself with a bought-and-paid oil stooge who is giving even more preferential treatment to the oil industry).
But, setting aside the debate over whether credits are valid profits (they are), for years now we’ve been well beyond Tesla’s reliance on credits. The company has produced significant profits, regardless of credit sales, for some time now.
At least, until today. That’s no longer true – Tesla did rely on credits to become profitable in Q1. And Musk starting the call with a ridiculous rant about government handouts not only shows his hypocrisy and projection on this matter, but his detachment from reality itself. He is, truly, too stuck in the impenetrable echo chamber of his self-congratulating twitter feed to realize what an embarrassment he’s being in public – to the point of inventing shadow enemies to explain the very real, very simple explanation that people aren’t buying his company’s cars because he sucks so much.
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No matter how badly a fleet wants to electrify their operations and take advantage of reduced fuel costs and TCO, the fact remains that there are substantial up-front obstacles to commercial EV adoption … or are there? We’ve got fleet financing expert Guy O’Brien here to help walk us through it on today’s fiscally responsible episode of Quick Charge!
This conversation was motivated by the recent uncertainty surrounding EVs and EV infrastructure at the Federal level, and how that turmoil is leading some to believe they should wait to electrify. The truth? There’s never been a better time to make the switch!
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