1st UK Owner Of New Volkswagen e-Up! Gets His Car
A positive Volkswagen story from the Isle of Wight shares that the first buyer in the UK of the new Volkswagen e-up! has now received the car. Sporting a range up to 99 miles* per charge, the zero-emissions car sits somewhere between the modern era’s “first-generation” EVs and “second-generation” EVs. It is perfect for daily trips. The joy of driving all-electric comes with a price at £20,780 (RRP OTR incl. Plug-in Car Grant).
Volkswagen reports that John Back is the UK’s first new e-up! owner. He has taken delivery of the practical zero-emission city car from Volkswagen e-Mobility Retailer Peter Cooper in Southampton. John Back says: “I’m very pleased with my new e-up!. It’s a lovely vehicle to drive. My daughter has a High up! and I was suitably impressed with its comfort and ride and that carries over to the e-up!. It suits my lifestyle and needs – it’s ideal for island use.”
It’s a wonder that all cars on islands aren’t electric at this point.
The new e-up! intelligently provides the technology to ease and quiet daily commuting. Aside from the range, other improvements were sprinkled in: “The substantially revised e-up! features revised interior and exterior styling, plus an advanced new infotainment system. The first examples of this next generation of electric city car are available to order at Volkswagen Retailers nationwide, and are on sale at £25,280 (RRP OTR) before the government’s plug-in Car Grant of £4,500 is applied.”
The speed of the e-Up! actually tops out at 80 mph, which must be to help save range, but one shouldn’t be driving faster than that anyway.
The e-up! (and its gas sibling, the up!) is a great city car in many ways — small, cute, nimble, affordable. We reviewed the first-generation e-up! back in 2013 and liked it a great deal.
“The car’s diminutive proportions add to its suitability and ease-of-use in typically tight commuter traffic,” as Volkswagen puts it. “And the single-ratio gearbox, which is optimised for minimum friction, makes driving in traffic easy and noticeably quiet.”
Another benefit it offers is several regenerative braking options, which lets different driver with different preferences choose the ones they prefer, and also lets them change up the options as they wish for city driving versus highway driving or some other variations that may want present them with different needs.
Here are some more details on the new e-up! and improvements VW has implemented:
- The e-up!’s lithium-ion battery is rated at 374 volts and 18.7 kWh.
- It can be fully charged from a standard household plug in nine hours, and that time that can be reduced to 6 hours if an optional 3.6 kWh wall box for home garage use is purchased.
- Two charging cables, for regular and fast charging, are included, and when connected to a fast charge point the e-up!’s battery is 80% replenished in just 30 minutes.
- The battery is made up of 204 cells and is located under the front and rear seats to increase boot space and to provide optimum safety in the event of an accident.
- For peace of mind, the battery comes with an 8-year or 99,360-mile guarantee.
- The car’s near-instant 210 Nm of torque under acceleration gives it a crisp and responsive level of performance. The 0–62 mph time is 12.4 seconds.
- The e-up!’s infotainment system has been thoroughly updated. Instead of docking a separate console into the dash of the e-up!, as was the case with the previous version, the revised car uses the customer’s own smartphone. The phone is simply clicked into the dashpad docking station and then, when Volkswagen’s ‘Maps + More’ app is selected, the full infotainment options become available.
- ‘Maps + More’ is a comprehensive app that includes satellite navigation and a whole variety of other features. The satellite navigation provides a 2D or a 3D route display.
- Also included in ‘Maps + More’ is a function to enable the driver to search through their phone contacts using handwriting recognition, and they can then make a hands-free call via a Bluetooth connection.
- A clever element of ‘Maps + More’ is the Think Blue. Trainer. This is a system that shows the driver how they can improve their driving to make it more economical.
Related Stories:
Volkswagen Diesel Car Scandal Causing Surge In EV Interest, According To British Car Leasing Company
Volkswagen e-Up And e-Golf Debut With 100+ Miles Of Range
Volkswagen e-Up! Review (Full Review + Test Drive Videos)
Have a tip for CleanTechnica? Want to advertise? Want to suggest a guest for our CleanTech Talk podcast? Contact us here.
Latest CleanTechnica.TV Video
CleanTechnica uses affiliate links. See our policy here.
