GENEVA MOTOR SHOW: Audi Q7 e-tron TDI

Imagine a two-tonne, seven-seat luxury wagon that can hit 100km/h in six seconds, yet consumes just 1.7L/100km and can manage more than 1400km on a tank of fuel.

Audi imagined that, too. Then it went out and built it and the Q7 e-tron TDI will be on sale in Europe about this time next year.

While the second-generation Q7 will hit Australian showrooms by September, the ground-breaking plug-in version will follow later in 2016.

Based around technology so advanced that it also powers the prologue Avant concept car, the Q7 e-tron TDI is a plug-in hybrid, but with a twist.

Instead of the traditional petrol or turbocharged petrol engine as its internal combustion engine, the Q7 e-tron TDI uses a turbo-diesel engine.

Powered by a new generation of lithium-ion battery technology, the Q7 e-tron TDI reaches out to 56km of pure electric driving from a full charge and manages official average fuel consumption of just 1.7L/100km on the NEDC combined cycle.

Intended to be a technical wunderkind at the top of the all-new Q7 all-wheel drive range, the Q7 e-tron TDI will be Audi’s first diesel-powered plug-in hybrid and the world’s first with a V6.

Combined, its electric and diesel powerplants give it a system surge of 275kW of power and 700Nm of torque, all while emitting less than 50g/km of CO2.

The electrified Q7 has a claimed 0-100km/h acceleration time of six seconds and a top speed of 225km/h, and Audi claims it will stretch to 1410km from a full charge and a full tank of diesel.

The new V6 turbo-diesel alone delivers 190kW of power and 600Nm of torque, and it’s mounted on active engine mounts to minimise the diesel wobulations entering the cabin.

The performance from the diesel is backed up by a disc-shaped electric motor, mounted in the eight-speed automatic transmission. The electric motor has 94kW of its own and 350Nm of torque from the instant it’s called upon to deliver.

And the electric motor gets its juice from 168 fluid-cooled, lithium-ion battery cells with 17.3kWh of energy storage.

Audi’s new two-phase charging system lets the Q7 e-tron TDI recharge with up to 7.2kW of power and, depending on the infrastructure, it can be recharged in 2.5 hours.

Naturally, it comes with a standard power cable, but Audi is pinning its real-world hopes on the mid-cycle arrival of practical induction charging hardware.

The Q7 e-tron TDI is programmed to always start in its pure-electric mode. To fire up the TDI, drivers will have to prod the new active accelerator pedal past its détente, which changes position depending on the hybrid system’s needs.

Go beyond that point and both the electric and diesel motors work together for maximum performance – but minimum economy.

The big Q7 e-tron TDI also has a coasting mode, in which both the motors are disconnected from the driveline, though if the active cruise control picks up a slower car or a lowered speed limit, it will switch the electric motor back into line so the battery can be regenerated under braking.

There are also modes to hold the battery charge for use at a different time, like in the city where it’s of greater benefit, and another mode to use the TDI V6 to recharge the battery.

The car’s navigation unit works in close partnership with the hybrid system and can determine the most fuel-efficient of the modes for the length of the drive, regardless of how far it’s going.

From the transmission back, it uses the same all-wheel drive system as the rest of the Q7 range and also benefits from the new five-link front and rear axle set-ups that are 60kg lighter than their predecessors.

The 5.05-metre Q7 e-tron TDI uses steel springs and dampers, though there is an adaptive air suspension as an option.

It also loses little by way of practicality to cater for its battery pack and extra motor. The rear row of three seats can still be moved fore and aft to create extra space. It still has 890 litres of luggage capacity, and this can still be raised to 2075 litres with the rear seats folded flat.

Like the conventionally powered versions, it will still come with a 12.3-inch fully digital instrument cluster with new additional graphics for the e-tron power meter. This also shows the remaining electric range, the energy flows and how much charge the battery still holds.

Its standard equipment levels are the same as the top-spec models with conventional engines, indicating the Q7 e-tron TDI won’t be cheap.

It has MMI Navigation Plus, 19-inch alloys, automatic air-conditioning and a new heat pump that takes waste heat from the electric drive hardware and converts it to cabin heat.

It also delivers all of the Q7’s safety features, including the traffic jam assistant that takes over the steering in stop-start traffic for speeds up to 65km/h.