Audi e-tron EV Charging Cable

Two charge ports, and why that saves you money

This car has two charge ports, one on each front wing, and almost nobody mentions it. The offside socket is the combined Type 2 and CCS inlet and takes rapid charging as well; the nearside one handles AC only. The practical effect is that your charge point always has an inlet on its own side of the car, so you can buy for the shorter run rather than the longer.

It is worth confirming your own car has both, because we have not been able to establish whether the second inlet was standard on every UK trim. Open the flap on each wing and you will know in five seconds. If it does have two, buy for the shorter of the two runs rather than the longer.

Three battery sizes across the life of the car

The e-tron 50 quattro holds 64.7 kWh usable from a 71 kWh pack, quoted between 171 and 209 miles. The e-tron 55 quattro holds 83.6 kWh, raised to 86.5 in a 2020 update, for 222 to 271 miles. All of them use the same 11 kW three phase charger, with 22 kW available as an option.

That headline assumes three phases arriving at the wall box. With one, which is what a house has, it is 7.4 kW. That makes the 32A single phase cable the right buy, and any published charge time faster than the table below assumes three phases. The 22 kW option halves charge times where three phases exist, and does nothing whatever on a driveway.

How long a full charge takes

Figures are calculated rather than quoted: battery divided by power, 13 per cent for losses, quarter hour rounding. The miles column uses 3.5 miles per kWh, which holds up in winter as well as summer. Columns are the e-tron 50 and the later e-tron 55. DC rapid charging is 150 kW, so a long run is handled without this cable.

Thirteen hours from empty on the larger pack sounds long, and is almost never experienced. The pattern that matters is the overnight top-up, and a seven hour off peak window puts roughly 180 miles back in.

Which length for an e-tron

Measure to the nearer of the two front wings, not to the one you happened to notice first. That is the whole trick on this car: on almost any layout one of the two inlets is closer to the charge point than the other.

The e-tron is 4.9 metres long, so if you were working from a single rear port you would be buying 10 metres without much argument. With a front inlet on both sides, 5 metres covers the great majority of home installations. Buy 10 metres if the charge point is set well back from the parking space rather than because of the car. The measurement that counts is the one taken with the car in its usual spot, plus a margin for the slack the lead needs.

How these cables are built

Construction is to IEC 62196-2 with CE marking, IP55 weather protection and a -30C to +50C operating range.

The three pin cable is built to IEC 62752, CE marked, sealed to IP67 and rated from -30C to +60C. Two year warranty from the manufacturer, free next day delivery in the UK, 30 day returns.

Also from Audi: Audi Q4 e-tron EV Charging Cable. The full range of Audi charging cables is on one page. For a wall box or public post the lead is the Type 2 to Type 2 charging cable.

Audi e-tron charging cable questions

How many charge ports does an e-tron have?

Two on a UK car, one on each front wing. The offside one is the combined Type 2 and CCS inlet; the nearside one is AC only. Check yours has both, as we cannot confirm it was standard on every trim.

What cable does an e-tron need?

A 32A single phase Type 2 to Type 2 cable, and often a shorter one than you would expect, because you can measure to whichever front wing is nearer your charge point.

How long does an e-tron take to charge at home?

About ten hours for the e-tron 50 and thirteen for the e-tron 55, from empty at 7.4 kW. The 11 kW and 22 kW figures need three phases.

Is the 22 kW charger option worth having?

Only somewhere with three phases. At a house it gives the same 7.4 kW as the standard 11 kW unit, so it changes nothing about which cable to buy.