Is the New Audi A6 Sportback e-Tron a Good Electric Vehicle?
- For the most part, yes. Built on the same platform as the Audi Q6 e-Tron and Porsche Macan EV, this is one of the better electric luxury sedans you can buy, especially if you spec yours with dual motors.
How Does the Audi A6 Sportback e-Tron Compare With Other Electric Cars?
- Primary competitors include the BMW i5, Lucid Air, Mercedes-EQ EQE and Tesla Model S, with the Audi beating some and losing out to others on the range, performance, charging and pricing fronts. It all depends on the trim you choose.
In the market for an electric sedan? It ain’t 2018 anymore — you’ve got options, and not all of ‘em start with “T” and end with “esla.” Beyond the surprising breadth of not-so-sedanlike electric SUVs starting under the $40,000 mark, all four of Germany’s premier luxury brands have at least one fully electric sedan in their lineups. The newest are the 2026 Audi A6 and S6 Sportback e-Trons, two tasty flavors of the same sedan that together might offer one of the most compelling ways to plug in.
Related: Aerodynamic 2025 Audi A6, S6 e-Trons Are Here to Slip Into Your Garage
Understanding where these fit in both Audi’s lineup and the greater automotive sphere is a cinch provided you’ve not ignored the past 30 years of Audi product positioning. Just as the gas-powered A6 and S6 serve as the Ingolstadt automaker’s mid-size executive sedan against the similar salvos from the BMW 5 Series and Mercedes-Benz E-Class, the A6 and S6 e-Trons are the all-electric mid-size counterparts to the BMW i5 and Mercedes-EQ EQE.
Easy, and it just gets easier. Underneath the slightly swollen fastback bodywork beats the bones and brain of the Volkswagen Group’s Premium Platform Electric architecture, the same as you’ll find in the Audi Q6 e-Tron and Porsche Macan Electric. Some parts and configuration are shared, but the A6’s 116.1-inch wheelbase is a 2.4-inch stretch over the electrified Q6, putting the kibosh on the notion of copy and paste.
How Much Power and Range Does the 2025 Audi A6 e-Tron Have?
As is usually the case for both luxury mid-size sedans and primo electric vehicles, you have a choice of powertrain output. The A6 e-Tron is available with a single rear-mounted motor with up to 375 horsepower — I say “up to” because the standard launch control can temporarily boost the baseline 362-hp output to that 375-hp mark. Of course, the A6 e-Tron’s available dual-motor setup also adds the iconic Quattro all-wheel-drive badge along with a peak of 456 hp.
The medium-spicy S6 e-Tron is for my fellow power nutsos — but make sure you’d not be better off with the (far) more expensive and far more capable E-Tron GT or RS E-Tron GT, which offer up to a mega 912 hp. Like all “S” models, the S6 e-Tron cuts the difference between the “A” and the “RS,” offering enough heat (performance) to enhance the dish, but not so much that it kills the flavor (usability).
As such, the dual-motor-only S6 e-Tron zaps around with a peak of 543 hp, good for a 0-60 mph time of 3.7 seconds and a top speed of 149 mph; compare this to the single-motor A6 e-Tron’s 5.2-second 0-60 sprint and the dual-motor’s 4.3-second scramble. Top speed for both versions of the A6 e-Tron is 130 mph.
No matter which one you pick, all pull power from the same 94.4-kilowatt-hour battery pack, offering a set of EPA-rated driving ranges that run thusly: up to 392 miles for the single-motor A6 e-Tron, 377 miles for the dual-motor model and 324 miles for the S6 e-Tron. Charging peaks at 9.6 kilowatts on Level 2 service, swelling to up to 270 kW when connected to a DC fast charger capable of providing that much power. When DC fast-charging at that rate, Audi claims the cars can go from a 10% to 80% charge in 21 minutes.
What Interior Tech Does the 2025 Audi A6 e-Tron Have?
Whew — well, that’s all you need to know from a “what” perspective, so here’s the “how (does it drive).” I nabbed some seat time in both a dual-motor A6 e-Tron and S6 e-Tron, using these new e-sleds to e-cruise around the mean e-streets of Newport e-Beach, Calif. As far as the interior goes, it appears quite similar to the related Q6 e-Tron, with a front cockpit that’s as close to identical as you can get when going from an SUV to a sedan.
This means that Audi’s impressive and dramatically named Digital Stage is on full, ah, display here just as it is in the crossover. The 11.9-inch driver display and 14.5-inch center infotainment touchscreen become a throuple if you opt for the 10.9-inch passenger display, which lets the front passenger enjoy full infotainment functions that include but are not limited to YouTube and other streaming services. Are you an easily distracted driver? No worries — this third screen deploys an active “shutter” when the car is in motion that makes it impossible to see the on-screen action.
Other techy Audi stuff is here, too, including wireless charging, a panoramic roof, an augmented reality head-up display, a configurable taillight motif and an optional Bang & Olufsen sound system with a cluster of speakers embedded in the head restraints. Even if the typical luxe finery is here — leather, microsuede accents (for the S6), heated and ventilated seats — these modern, software-defined vehicles can be such clinical places to wick the miles away, and this is the case with all electrified Audi As and Qs.
Does the 2025 Audi A6 e-Tron Have Physical Controls?
With no real physical controls outside of a volume knob, start button and short rocking shifter, this interior is as digitized and anodyne as the competition. Just because this is no more or less characterful to operate than the rest of the competitive field doesn’t give it a free pass, but it also doesn’t mean my subjective groaning and moaning is correct. I don’t like how we interface with these software-defined vehicles, but that doesn’t make them bad or poorly executed.
Quite the contrary, actually. If a brand is going to embed all controls in the screen, the interface should be clear, intuitive and reactive — and the A6 e-Tron’s is. Audi blew our minds with its O.G. configurable MMI Virtual Cockpit back in the mid-teens — Lord have mercy, a decade ago — so it’s no surprise I consider the current iteration of MMI generally one of the nicer and easier systems to operate.
How Does the 2025 Audi A6 e-Tron Drive?
Easy operation applies to the driving experience, too. The dual-motor A6 e-Tron is one of the better-driving EVs on the market, full stop — or, with 456 hp under your right foot, maybe full go. It’s predictably back-thumpin’ quick from a dead stop, with all that electro-torque only tapering well above speeds that would get you a ticket on Texas’ fastest interstate. Zero muss, zilch fuss, just an unbroken wave of impressive acceleration that feels spot on with Audi’s official 4.3-second 0-60 estimate.
This speed is available clearly as a side effect, not necessarily by design. The internal-combustion-engine A6 line has always ceded the overwhelming majority of its performance aspirations to its S6 counterpart, leaving the larger, more powerful engine option for the A6 carefully metered away from the S6’s powerplant. But the A6 e-Tron’s 456 hp is actually greater than the still-in-production gas-powered 2025 S6, which makes 444 hp.
Like I said, side effect. Once you have an electric motor platform dialed in, it’s easy to eke out serious power and artificially segment the trim levels by output, and don’t let the engineers tell you otherwise. As Audi was not about to make a sloppy muscle car, it elevated all other dynamic parameters so the A6 e-Tron is nearly as sweet to hustle around a corner as the gas-powered S6, only let down by less aggressive rubber and purposefully damped inputs.
“Let down” is a bit cruel, as it simply was designed to be a quick, smooth, motoring analgesic. Braking performance is one of the more impressive bits of the experience, and not just from the strength of the stop. I enjoyed the four-level regenerative brake system, adjusted via paddles on the steering wheel, and I oscillated between the most aggressive (near one-pedal driving) and one up from “none.”
Everything is well balanced and excellently metered in the A6 e-Tron, especially the ride. My test car had the available adaptive air suspension, and cruising down Newport Beach’s near-faultless stretches of Pacific Coast Highway tarmac was more akin to a low flight than road drive. Steering is light and obviously digital, but this car isn’t meant to excite.
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How Quick Is the 2025 Audi S6 e-Tron?
It’s a sweet car — but I’m (shockingly) not sure I’d even seek the S6 e-Tron if I were in the market. As far as I could tell on my drive, the differences in handling, body control, braking and steering were nominal from a day-to-day perspective, where I wasn’t any more thrilled in the hotter S6 than the dual-motor A6. That’s not to say the S6 e-Tron isn’t thrilling — I reckon Audi’s estimated 3.7-second 0-60 dash is a bit conservative — but with the capability of the dual-motor A6 e-Tron sitting so high, it doesn’t feel significantly stepped up.
Presentation is as subtle as comparing the gas-powered A6 and S6, with the S6 e-Tron simply incorporating a bit more aggressive wheels, slightly more aggressive seats, a flat-bottom steering wheel and plenty of the signature red-slash “S” accent badge peppered about the cabin. The route we had access to with the S6 e-Tron was more surface street than back-road blast, and more seat time on some good, squiggly tarmac is needed to determine the spice level. I like it, and I’d probably end up getting it over the standard A6 e-Tron, but I’d like to think my pragmatism would win in the end and I’d whoosh home in the dual-motor A6 e-Tron.
How Much Does the 2025 Audi A6 e-Tron Cost?
And if I did, I’d enjoy a fat savings of close to $11,000 for my self-control — more than enough for a spate of skydiving sessions, off-shore surfing, downhill mountain biking or any other adrenaline-juicing activity to offset the lack of an “S” badge in my life. The 2025 S6 Sportback e-Tron will cost no less than $79,995 (all prices include a $1,295 delivery fee), with the A6 Sportback e-Tron dual-motor clocking in at $69,195. The thriftiest among us in temperate climates should consider the single-motor A6 e-Tron, yours out the door for as low as $67,195.
All in, this is one of Audi’s more impressive electric efforts. An effective, fully-baked EV translation of the A6/S6 formula we’ve known and truly loved over the years, but let’s just keep our eyes peeled on the horizon for a million-horsepower, super-sonic RS 6 e-Tron, shall we?
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