VW e-Up! plays range catch-up with the SEAT Mii Electric and Electric Skoda Citigo e iV

The new electric Volkswagen Up! – the VW e-Up! – is heading for  debut at the Frankfurt Motor Show with a new battery delivering 160-mile range.

We’ve been quite disparaging about the electric VW e-Up! in the past, with its woeful range and silly price, although VW partly (and only partly) addressed that by cutting the price of the e-Up! a bit last year.

But the price was still silly and the range woeful, but we did report back in July that VW would be heading to the Frankfurt Motor Show with a new e-Up! with greater range and an even lower price tag.

We’re still not too sure what the price of the new e-Up! will be in the UK, although VW are charging €21,975 in Germany before grant so, even if Boris’s adventures in wonderland decimate the Pound further, it should still be under £20k in the UK before the grant. Which is much better, but still not good enough.

Essentially, the VW Up! is playing catch-up with the new SEAT Mii Electric and Electric Skoda Citigo e iV which have already been announced with a new battery pack delivering a much greater range than before.

The new battery pack sees capacity increasing from 18.7kWh to 32.3kWh, with VW claiming a range of up to 160 miles, with charging time to 80 per cent on a 40kW charger at around an hour, and the 61kW electric motor is enough for the e-Up! to get to 62mph in 11.9 seconds.

There seems to be more equipment too, including Climate, Lane Departure, Bluetooth, DAB and Smartphone integration, although the Smartphone integration is more about keeping costs down than adding functions.

We can’t see the e-Up! lasting too much longer, but at least it’s now a bit more affordable and has a decent range.