WATCH: Faster Audi e-tron S drifts

Audi has confirmed it is readying faster S performance variants of the e-tron and e-tron Sportback and, to prove it, released a video of the battery-powered SUV frolicking sideways on track.

A camouflaged Audi e-tron S prototype can clearly be seen drifting with the sort of agility lacking in the standard model, ahead of the model's European launch in the third quarter of 2020.

That's perhaps not surprising when you consider that the Audi e-tron S twins will be the first battery-powered cars in the world to be driven by not one or two but three electric motors.

Two of those motors drive the rear axle while the third one rotates those front wheels, providing for all-wheel drive.

More motors equal much more power, with Audi claiming the e-tron S produces 320kW and 808Nm in normal conditions and a mightier-still 370kW and a herculean 973Nm in sport mode -- that's 70kW and 309Nm more than the standard car in 'overboost' mode.

This translates to an SUV that can hit 100km/h in just 4.5 seconds and top out at 211km/h.

Feeding electricity to the three motors is a 95kWh battery that is capable of being topped up using a 150kW fast-charger, with which a 5-80 per cent charge takes just 30 minutes.

Audi hasn't revealed how the standard car's 446km WLTP-verified range has been affected.

Stay tuned because more teases of the Audi e-tron S are expected shortly.