The current starts at about $67,000 including destination. For that money, you’re getting an EPA-estimated range of 222 miles. As you likely know, there are a on the market that can match or well exceed the E-Tron’s projected range for less dough. Audi has more compelling all-electric offerings on the horizon, like the and Q4 E-Tron, and that’s left the original E-Tron a rather unconvincing proposition.

That could change soon, however. Right before the holiday last week, reported, citing sources within Audi, that the E-Tron’s range will be significantly extended in tandem with a facelift scheduled for next year. Based on the WLTP regulatory cycle — a standard that’s a bit more generous than the EPA’s — the current E-Tron is rated for 249 miles. The 2023 model will supposedly bring that to 373 miles, which should handily be enough to get the SUV over the EPA’s 300-mile mark. The Sportback model is due to receive a similar tech upgrade as well.

What’s more, Audi will reportedly achieve this without increasing the car’s 95 kWh battery capacity. A move to newer-gen batteries and more efficient electric motors and software are pegged to squeeze more usability out of the E-Tron and its aged MLB platform.

That’s key, because while Audi has more irons in the fire, built on more advanced architecture designed for EVs from the get go, the E-Tron is going to continue to represent a pillar of its all-electric offerings in the short term until something better comes along.

The and even the recently-announced Q6 E-Tron are both supposedly smaller than the original E-Tron; by 2025 or 2026, a Q8 E-Tron is that will finally replace this SUV. It’ll also mercifully put an end to the redundancy of Audi’s current naming convention, whereby E-Tron is both its own model and a signifier for other nameplates. Articles like this will be so much easier to write and read in a few years’ time!