Volkswagen’s updated up! city car is now available to order in all-electric form as the new e-up! joins the refreshed up! range in the UK.
With its 81 bhp electric motor the e-up! boasts a peak torque figure of 155 lb ft, equating to a 0-62 mph time of 12.4 seconds and it will keep on going, where the law permits, to 80 mph. The car boasts a maximum claimed range of around 93 miles between charges.
This e-up!’s power derives from a lithium-ion battery pack located within the car’s floor and consisting of 204 cells, together rated at 374 volts and 18.7 kWh. The motor is mated to a single-speed gearbox integrated with the electric motor inside a single housing.
The battery weighs 230 kg but the e-up! still weighs less than its internal combustion engined counterpart, tipping the scales at 1,139 kg thanks to extensive weight-saving measures. The necessary variety of charging cables includes a fast charge connection which allows for up to 80 per cent of the battery’s capacity to be replenished in just 30 minutes. Meanwhile, a full charge from a standard household plug takes nine hours. Customers can purchase an optional wall box for home garage use, which provides a 3.6 kW supply and can recharge a battery in six hours.
The new e-up! is available as a five-door, and updated styling includes beefier front bumpers which house ‘C’ signature LED running lights. At the rear, a more angular bumper includes a prominent diffuser panel alongside a sharper tail light design. The interior of the updated e-up! features a leather-trimmed steering wheel, while chrome-trimmed interior door handles, air vent surrounds and instruments add a finishing flourish.
Like the new up! it features a new smartphone docking station which enables the driver’s phone to be turned into the car’s infotainment system using the ‘Maps + More’ docking system on the centre console to unlock several features via the Volkswagen app.
The smartphone can be used to select and play music, or as a navigation system. It can also display key data from the e-up!’s systems and tips from the Volkswagen Think Blue. Trainer – which coaches a driver in efficient driving techniques.
The smartphone connection is extended in the new e-up! thanks to Volkswagen’s Car-Net e-remote. This gives the driver the power to manage the car’s charging process from their smartphone via the Volkswagen e-up! app. They can also use the app to switch on their e-up!’s air conditioning remotely before getting in and review vehicle trip statistics, too. A three-year subscription to the Car-Net e-remote service is included with the new e-up!.
The new e-up! is priced at £20,780 including the Government Plug-in Car Grant of £4,500. Deliveries are expected to begin in October and the e-up! comes with a standard three-year warranty. The vehicle’s battery comes with an eight-year, 100,000-mile warranty, while the standard service interval is 20,000 miles or two years.
Volkswagen has stated, via its recently announced TOGETHER – Strategy 2025 programme, that it will introduce 30 additional electric or plug-in hybrid models by 2025. And by that year Volkswagen expects purely battery-powered electric vehicles to account for a quarter of the global passenger car market.
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One Response
90 mile range! That is laughable Who in their right mind thinks that’s ok? That is literally like a smart phone car it would have to be charged every day or multiple times on only moderate length trips. So stupid….