Audi unveils all-electric e-tron Sportback

Audi has revealed its latest all-electric vehicle – the e-tron Sportback.

Coming as the firm’s second bespoke electric vehicle after the standard e-tron, the Sportback version has been unveiled in full at the Los Angeles motor show.

Though it’s the same weight, length and height as the standard e-tron, the Sportback benefits from a sleeker, more raked roofline.

While it changes the overall look of the car, it also helps with aerodynamic efficiency – the Sportback has a drag coefficient of 0.25Cd compared with the regular e-tron’s 0.27. Though it may not sound like much, it’s said to equate to an extra 6.2 miles of range.

In addition, the Sportback can decouple the front and rear axles so the model can be rear-wheel-drive – the regular e-tron is all-wheel-drive-only – and this helps to add another 6.2 miles of range.

In total, Audi claims that the e-tron Sportback will return 277.1 miles on a single charge. Audi has swapped the two water pumps cooling the batteries in the standard e-tron with a single larger one, saving even more weight and adding range.

The range-topping e-tron Sportback 55 produces 355bhp from two electric motors and a 95kWh battery. Audi claims that it’ll go from 0-60mph in under six seconds when in sport mode. The firm also states that the Sportback can recuperate up to 30 per cent of its total range through brake regeneration alone.

And though the vast amount of fixtures and fittings both inside and out are identical to those on the e-tron, the Sportback is the first mass-production car to get digital matrix LED headlights. Using systems usually found in video projectors, with individual tiles which can be adjusted 5,000 times per second.

UK pricing for the Sportback has yet to be confirmed, but Audi has stated that it will cost from €83,150 (£71,291) in Germany. First deliveries are expected to start in spring 2020.