Audi's EV went 831 miles on one charge. At about 18mph
An Audi A6 e-tron has set a Guinness record by driving 831 miles in Poland without recharging. It's a real efficiency feat, but it took 45 hours, and the real-world range is closer to 370 miles.
An Audi A6 Sportback e-tron has driven 831 miles (1,338km) on a single charge, setting a Guinness World Record. The drive took place in Poland on 11 September and was announced this week. It beats the previous record, 749 miles set by a Lucid Air Grand Touring, by more than 80 miles.
It's a genuinely impressive feat of efficiency. It's also a very long way from what you'd get driving one up the M1.
How to drive 831 miles on one charge
The driver was Miko Marczyk, a 30-year-old Polish rally driver who, according to Auto Express, has form here: in 2025 he drove a diesel Skoda Superb 1,759 miles on one tank. This time he started in the Tatra Mountains at 1:55am, headed north through Kraków and Warsaw along the Vistula valley to the seaside resort of Hel on the Baltic coast, then turned round and retraced the route.
It took 45 hours. Audi hasn't published an average speed, but 831 miles in 45 hours works out at roughly 18mph. The car averaged 8.8 miles per kilowatt-hour, which Electric Viking puts at 7.09kWh per 100km.
The car was described as a standard production A6 Sportback e-tron Performance, with a 94.9kWh usable battery, 362bhp and a slippery drag coefficient of 0.21. Auto Express says it ran on energy-efficient Michelin tyres. According to Electric Viking, aerodynamic drag accounts for 40% of the electric A6's energy consumption, which goes a long way to explaining why keeping the speed down pays off so handsomely.
Why that isn't your range
Here's the thing about any "on a single charge" record: it's a test of patience as much as engineering. At an average of about 18mph, aerodynamic drag, which grows rapidly with speed, matters far less than it would at 70mph. Auto Express notes the route did include public roads and rush-hour traffic, so it wasn't a laboratory exercise.
For comparison, the same car's official WLTP range is up to 468 miles, according to Auto Express. EV Database, which models real-world driving, estimates about 370 miles. The record is more than double that estimate.
Ada's take: this is a stunt, but not a pointless one. It shows how much of an EV's range is decided by speed and air resistance rather than battery size. The honest headline is "an efficient EV driven very slowly goes a very long way", which is less exciting but more useful.
What it means for UK buyers
The A6 Sportback e-tron Performance is on sale in the UK, listed by EV Database from £69,940. For a UK driver, the numbers that matter are these:
- Official range: up to 468 miles (WLTP).
- Estimated real-world range: about 370 miles, according to EV Database.
- Rapid charging: 10% to 80% in about 23 minutes, at up to 269kW, again according to EV Database.
That last figure is arguably more important than the record. A car that can add hundreds of miles in a coffee stop doesn't need to go 831 miles between them.
To be fair to Audi
Records like this are marketing, and everyone knows it. But this one wasn't done on a closed track or with a stripped-out prototype: it was a production car on public roads, certified by Guinness. The previous holder, the Lucid Air, is a specialist luxury saloon; the A6 is a mainstream executive car. If a slightly silly 45-hour drive gets people to realise that modern EVs are very efficient, that's no bad thing.
Mind the hype. 831 miles is possible. At 18mph, so is cycling.
Sources: Auto Express, Electric Viking, EV Database