An Auto Media Group publication
Advertisement
Advertisement

Audi A6 e-tron drives 1,338km on one charge for a world record

Rally champion Miko Marczyk has driven an Audi A6 Sportback e-tron 1,338km on one charge across Poland, a Guinness World Record for a production EV and 72% beyond its 777km WLTP rating.

Miko Marczyk standing beside the black Audi A6 Sportback e-tron in a city street
Miko Marczyk with the Audi A6 Sportback e-tron he drove 1,338km on a single charge. Image: Audi

A Polish rally champion has driven an Audi A6 Sportback e-tron 1,338km on a single charge, setting a Guinness World Record for the longest distance covered by a production electric car without recharging.

Miko Marczyk, the reigning European Rally Champion, set off at 1.55am on 11 September and followed the Vistula River across Poland, through Kraków, Sandomierz, Warsaw, Toruń and Grudziądz to Hel on the Baltic coast, before returning along the same route. The drive ended between Toruń and Ciechocinek more than 45 hours after it began.

Miko Marczyk and a Guinness World Records adjudicator with the record certificate beside the Audi A6 e-tron
Marczyk receives the Guinness World Records certificate at the end of the 45-hour drive. Image: Audi

The car was an unmodified A6 Sportback e-tron performance, with a 270kW rear motor, a 94.9kWh usable battery and a WLTP range of up to 777km. Marczyk averaged 7.09kWh/100km, beating the official figure by 561km, or about 72%. He drove in regular traffic, often in rush hour, at an average temperature of 15 degrees, falling to seven degrees in Grudziądz in the early morning. Audi has not given the average speed.

The previous record was 1,205km, set by a Lucid Air Grand Touring on a drive from Switzerland to Germany in 2025. The record applies to production cars; the outright distance record for an electric vehicle belongs to the TUfast Eco Team’s purpose-built prototype, which covered 2,573.79km in Germany in 2023.

Advertisement

Audi credits the car’s aerodynamics. At 0.21, the A6 Sportback e-tron has the lowest drag coefficient of any Audi, and the company says air resistance accounts for about 40% of its energy use on the WLTP cycle. Regenerative braking recovers up to 220kW, which handles most braking without the friction brakes.

Silver Audi A6 Sportback e-tron parked on a coastal road at dusk
With a 0.21 drag coefficient, the A6 Sportback e-tron is the most aerodynamic car Audi has built. Image: Audi

“Even for me, a result of 1,338 kilometres was a pleasant surprise,” Marczyk says. His approach relied on steady speeds, anticipating the traffic ahead, avoiding unnecessary acceleration and braking, running the correct tyre pressures and making deliberate use of regeneration.

It is his second Guinness World Record for efficiency. Last year he drove a Skoda Superb diesel 2,831km on a single tank.

The run follows Skoda’s 936km single-charge drive in the Peaq in August. The A6 e-tron Sportback and Avant were confirmed for New Zealand in 2024.

Join the conversation

Be the first to comment