E-Tron and other versions will use the same battery packs
The company announced on Friday that it will produce sportier performance versions of Audi’s three-engine electric cars, the E-Tron and E-Tron Sportback. Parent company Volkswagen said it wanted Audi to “lead in research and development” for the entire Volkswagen Group.
The new performance models will be called the E-Tron S and E-Tron Sportback S, and Audi says they will be “more agile, sharper and more dynamic” than the non-S variants. This is thanks to the addition of a third electric motor, two on the rear axle and one on the front, which increases total power from 265kW to 320kW or 370kW in an eight-second boost mode. 
This is approximately 350, 429 and 496 horsepower. Both vehicles will be able to go from 0 to 60 miles per hour in about 4.3 seconds, making it slightly faster than standard versions. These aren’t mind-blowing specs compared to some of the other electric vehicles on the road, Tesla or others, but apparently still very powerful for a luxury four-door vehicle.
More power!
Audi has yet to share when the S versions will hit the market or how much they will cost. The company says there will be S models, which will be the first three-engine electric cars worldwide to be mass-produced.
Audi said the S versions will use the same 95kWh battery as the standard e-Tron and E-Tron Sportback. The standard E-Tron (currently the only one on the road) only squeezes a little more than 200 miles from this battery pack. Adding another motor means more weight, and allowing higher performance can make it easier to drain the battery faster. How Audi plans to tackle this balance will be something to watch.
