Audi takes the essence of Quattro to the next level with its newest prototype. The Q6 E-Tron Off-Road checks all the boxes of a SEMA Show-ready concept: big tires, big lift kit, and big roof-mounted lights. But this all-wheel drive electric SUV is also the real deal with big climbing capability. That 100-percent grade? Pfft.
The Q6 E-Tron rides on Volkswagen Group’s new global EV platform, the Premium Platform Electric (PPE). On its own, the standard Q6 E-Tron is what you’d expect: luxury comfort and premium performance. Now throw that pinkies-up, smooth roads-only mentality out the window because where the off-road concept goes, you don’t need roads or trails or even a flat surface.
Equipped with newly designed portal axles, the Q6 E-Tron Off-Road increases the amount of torque sent to the wheels by 50 percent. Conventional portal axles only increase torque between 20 and 30 percent. On the Audi off-road concept, the combined torque at all wheels goes up by 3,245 pound-feet for a total of 9,883 lb-ft. Jeebus.
Also, yes, the new off-road suspension lowers the Q6 E-Tron concept’s top speed to 108 mph (the Q6 E-Tron and SQ6 E-Tron reach 130 and 143 mph, respectively), but speed is your enemy when on the trails, anyway.
The upshot is the improved suspension allows for better climbing, even steep 100-percent slopes, which, when calculating rise-over-run, equals a 45-degree angle. That’s a blind hill climb on any surface. But the Audi folks say it’s no big deal.
“This vehicle can claim new ground,’” said Audi CEO Gernot Döllner in a press release. “The Q6 E-Tron offroad concept is a reinterpretation of quattro. The model shows the potential that our platform for all electric vehicles already has today.”
Potential is a keyword we like hearing, especially here. The Q6 E-Tron Off-Road has plenty of possibilities since nothing it has is out of the ordinary, really. The EV concept is equipped with dual motors for a combined output of 380 kW (509 horsepower) and features a wider track (by 9.8 inches) as well as a taller ride height (by 6.3 inches).
Definitely not a display model, the Q6 E-Tron Off-Road concept will be part of the ice racing action at the upcoming F.A.T. Ice Race to be held at a frozen lake in the Austrian Alps on February 1.
