Audi Q4 e-tron Sportback 45 joins our fleet | Long-term test

Audi is cresting the wave with the full electric Q4 e-tron, last year selling 16,757 units, which accounted for a quarter of registrations in its segment. Of those, 11,624 were true fleet.

Five months in to 2024, it is on track for a similarly dominant performance, with registrations just short of 7,000.

With a MY24 update last September, it’s the perfect time to be taking the Q4 e-tron as our next long-termer.

Our model is the mid-trim Sportback e-tron S Line 45 quattro (the line up starts with the Sport and is topped by the Black Edition), which is priced from £55,395.

With optional extras including Floret Silver metallic paint (£695), heat pump (£950) and Technology Pack (£1,495), our test car comes in at £59,060.

Included within the Technology Pack is a Sonos premium sound system, replacing the standard Audi offering, matrix LED headlights, wireless phone charging, and, in the rear, 12V socket and USB charging interfaces.

The S Line comes with a comprehensive list of standard equipment, including an abundance of safety tech, such as advanced driver attention and drowsiness monitor, Audi Pre-sense Front, lane departure warning with emergency assist and swerve/turn assist.

The spec also includes reversing camera, parking system plus, heated front seats, camera-based traffic sign recognition and 11.6-inch navigation/infotainment touchscreen.

The 82kWh battery (77kWh usable) charges at 11kW on AC and up to 175kW on DC with a minimum 10-80% charging time of 28 minutes (or 106 miles in 10 minutes).

Speedier charging times was one of the product updates, together with a newly tuned, sportier suspension, which is 15mm lower, and greater power (0-62mph is now a rapid 6.6 seconds).

WLTP range is 322 miles with consumption efficiency of 3.6mi/kWh (another update improvement, assisted by optimised thermal management).

It’s early days but, so far, we are achieving 3.8mi/kWh with full charge range indicating 330 miles, helped by the fact we’re now entering peak conditions for full electric vehicles thanks to the warmer summer weather.