Skoda’s first electric car hits all the e-car targets and accelerates beyond competitors on looks and price — and it’s available in three years
We test drive the first of five affordable Skoda electric cars which will all be available by 2025
I’M at a warehouse in Prague with a minder called Stanislav.
He’s a big, bald bear and he’s shadowing me everywhere.
Why? Because I’m driving this £1million concept car — one of one — just days before its European debut at the Frankfurt Motor Show. And it can’t get wet. Or damaged. Or I’ll get damaged.
At ease, Stan, my friend. Relax. I’ll be good. I’ll go steady with her.
This is the Skoda Vision E, the basis for Skoda’s first all-electric car coming in 2020. By 2025, Skoda will have FIVE all-electric vehicles — one smaller than this, one bigger, a small car, and maybe even a rear-wheel drive sports car.
A halo car. Think 110R coupe from the Seventies — but electric. Have I lost you? Google it.
Also by 2025, Skoda wants one in four sales to be plug-in hybrid or pure electric drive.
So, what of Vision E?
It’s an all-wheel-drive SUV with a 310-mile range and wireless charging via a floor panel. It has two electric motors producing 306hp — that’s fast — and a 112mph top speed.
And, as per “The Rules” of all next-gen cars, it is zero-emissions, it can drive itself on motorways, park itself — and it’s fully connected. In other words, it’s always online and communicating with other cars.
You’ll find . . . eight, nine, ten, 11 . . . 12 electronic screens inside Vision E. Yep. TWELVE.
To go with back-lit door panels, crystal glass trim and a glass roof as big as Kew Gardens. It glows like Currys’ shop window at night.
I very much doubt all those screens will make the 2020 production car. Or the roof for that matter. Or the four swivel seats. Or the wooden floor. Or the electric rear-hinged doors.
But the clean-cut exterior shape of the car won’t change much. And please keep those full-width LED lights.
As design boss Karl Neuhold says: “Light is the new chrome.”
And because there are no oily bits (no engine, no transmission tunnel), it has a flat floor and passengers have lots of S, P, A, C and E.
A Skoda trademark which, alongside value and reliability, will happily continue with the switch to electric.
Skoda EV boss Dr Guido Haak said: “I like Elon Musk and Tesla. They are the No1 risk-takers. But we are not competing with them. We are competing with the cars people drive today.
“Value for money is part of our DNA and our electric cars will have sufficient real-world range, easy-to-use charging technology, good design and versatility.”
From Vision to reality in three years.
Expect prices around £30,000.
