Cupra Born provides sportiness but range anxiety remains

The Cupra Born helped me answer a key question: Could a full-electric compact hatchback become my one and only car? After a 600 km (373 miles) test drive the answer is: probably not.

The Cupra Born, the first battery-electric car from the Volkswagen Group subsidiary, uses the company’s MEB platform. Other cars on the platform are the VW ID3 hatchback and ID4 crossover, Skoda Enyaq iV and Audi Q4 e-tron.

The Born has a sportier look than its siblings and special features such as an e-Boost that increases the maximum power output to 228 hp from 201 hp for 30 seconds at a time, which helps it top the ID3's 201 hp.

The Born also has dynamic chassis control as an option to improve handling. The driver can modify the response of the acceleration, steering and suspension through five driving modes that include Range (to save energy) and the sportiest option, called Cupra.

The version I drove was equipped with a 58-kilowatt-hour battery that Cupra says has a WLTP consumption of 15.4 kWh per 100 km and a 420-km range. The Born is also available with a 77-kWh battery, with a 548-km range.

The Cupra Born offers a very pleasant drive, with good acceleration -- 0 to 100 kph (62 mph) in 7.3 seconds -- and agile handling, although the suspension felt a bit stiff on bumpy country roads.

Reality check

One thing we always want to confirm during these tests is whether the WLTP consumption figures match results from real-life driving.

Driving under optimal weather conditions of sunny and 20 degrees Celsius, my highway consumption varied from 18 kWh/100 km at 110 kph to 21 kWh/100 km at 130 kph, the maximum speed permitted on Italian motorways.

Consumption on country roads, with moderate traffic and speeds of 50 to 90 kph, averaged 14.4 kWh/100 km.

A one-hour test in the city, where regenerative braking is used the most, required 12.5 kWh/100 km. That figure yielded a 460 km range on a full charge, much less than the 596 km city range touted on Cupra technical documents.

The 420 km WLTP range of the Cupra Born I drove corresponds to a 300 km to 350 km range at highway speeds. On paper this would allow a person to travel from Milan to Rome with just one recharging stop, provided that: a high-speed highway charger can be found and that it is not already occupied.

Not-that-fast charging

Highway charging is actually still one of the weakest points of Italy’s EV infrastructure. Fast chargers are rare and far away from one another, forcing drivers to exit the highway to find suitable alternatives.

Autostrade per l’Italia, Italy’s largest toll highway operator, recently started to roll out 300-kilowatt chargers, with plans to add them to 100 fuel stations. So far, however, fewer than a dozen have been installed.

I tested one of these chargers near Modena, 150 km southeast of Milan. When I arrived the Born’s 58-kWh battery was still one-third full.

The car’s on-board DC charger accepts up to 100 kWh, but I was limited to a much slower average of 40 kWh, despite being the only one using one of the four available chargers. One of the likely reasons was that the battery was not empty. High-speed chargers progressively slow down as the battery charge increases.

I received a little less than 20 kW in 25 minutes. That boosted the battery’s charge to 67 percent, good enough to cover 242 km.

If wanted to fill the battery it would have taken at least an hour, leaving plenty of time for a lunch break when all I wanted was a quick coffee and a restroom stop.

My test included a stop at another DC charger in Milan that offered up to 50 kW. My refill was performed at an average of 46 kWh, which was a surprise to me. Perhaps it was because the Born’s battery was nearly empty when the charge started.

A couple of top-ups of the battery at AC chargers went smoothly at the maximum 11 kW allowed by the on-board charger. Using a home charger that offers 6 kWh, the most allowed in Italian households, means that charging from 20 to 80 percent would take six hours.

The recent spike in electricity prices hasn’t driven up the cost of public EV charges -- yet.

The two DC recharges cost €0.68 per kilowatt, while I paid €0.45/kW for the slower AC charges. This was a much better experience than what I had happen earlier this year.

At 5.5 kilometers per kW for highway driving at 110 kph, the price per kilometer of a fast charge is higher than the cost of gasoline in Italy.

Electric driving is a viable proposition only if you can charge at home most of the time, despite the price of electricity for Italian households doubling in the last year.

The range conundrum

Outside temperatures significantly above or below the 20 degrees Celsius I enjoyed would reduce the battery range.

Another warning to heed comes from the owner’s manual (and is becoming common knowledge to EV users): Do not recharge beyond 80 percent of battery capacity during long trips because this can shorten the battery’s life. This means even shorter driving ranges.

Starting from an 80 percent charge and driving the battery down to just 10 percent capacity leaves a 70 percent usable range, that translates into 40 kWh in the Cupra Born, enough for 200 to 240 km.

This would suffice for relatively short day trips, but even a relatively short (150 km) Milan-to-Turin journey requires a recharge stop before heading home. A one-way trip from Milan to Rome would require two recharge stops.

Driving electric is perfectly viable for commuters who can recharge at home, but still requires careful planning for longer trips.

Car buyers interested in a compact family car might want to go for the long-range version, such as the Cupra Born with a 77-kWh battery. Keep in mind, that range comes at a price premium of more than 5,000 euros.