Adrenaline and comfort in the desert: adventure in the dunes with an electric SUV

A journey into the desert to explore fascinating territories far from our daily visual experience, but not only: an adventure to discover the unusual pleasure of driving an electric car and doing it in the dunes. The protagonist is the Audi SQ6 Sportback e-tron, the electric suv with 517 hp delivered by two electric motors, driven through the sands of the Tunisian Sahara hinterland.

Comfort, electric four-wheel drive that distributes torque from the electric motors to the wheels in around 30 milliseconds and increased ground clearance are all qualities already familiar from the four-ring manufacturer's lithium-ion model, but never before have they been put to the test in such a challenging environment as the desert.

Audi has a long tradition in motorsport, both for its four-wheel drive and for challenges in such demanding contexts, remembering that in 2024 it won the Dakar with the RS Q e-tron, writing a new chapter in the history of one of the world's toughest challenges with 7,883 kilometres of dunes, rocks and fords.

To tackle this journey of more than 500 kilometres, the travelling companion was the Audi SQ6 Sportback e-tron, which in this context does not stand out for its 0-100 km/h sprint in 4.4 seconds but, what makes it a car suitable for desert life, are other qualities, such as the four-electric drive, the rapid distribution of torque between the axles and the active air suspension that allows individual management of each electro-hydraulic shock absorber and enables variation of up to 65 mm.

Based on the EPP platform developed in cooperation with Porsche, the Audi SQ6 Sportback e-tron benefits from a refined multilink suspension layout: at the front, the lower control arms are positioned forward of the swinging arms, which favours freedom of positioning and torsional strength.