NEW SKODA WILL BE AN ALL-ELECTRIC HIT

This is a motor you’ll simply have to Czech out. Skoda’s new Citigo e iV is the brand’s first pure electric car – and it’s affordable.

The current Citigo, in case you have forgotten or never knew, is VW-owned Skoda’s version of the Volkswagen Up.

The Up was electrified five years ago in the form of the entertainingly named e-Up.

So why has it taken so long for the VW Group to give the Citigo the electric treatment?

Probably the sums didn’t work out. But now they clearly do. As they must for Seat, which has just launched an electric version of its own take on the Up that’s badged as the Mii.

So, what have we got here? An 82bhp electric motor driving the front wheels and powered by a 36.8kWh battery. It’s the same arrangement that’s fitted to VW and Seat’s version of the car.

The range, according to WLTP testing, is 161 miles, which is more than adequate for a car that is well suited to town driving. That might explain why the Citigo is now only available in electric form. Where the Citigo e iV differs from the Mii and Up is in charging. Both of the other cars come only with rapid CCS charging – but with the Skoda you get a choice of two models: SE and SE L.

The SE comes without CCS rapid charging, so the fastest you’ll be able to juice it up is 4hrs 15min using a 7kW wallbox.

The SE L, however, has CCS and can be recharged from a 40kW rapid charger in just 60 minutes.

Now let’s talk money because this is what’s going to make the Citigo e iV an easy sell for your local Skoda salesperson. The

SE (minus the Government plug-in car grant) costs £16,995 which makes it the keenest priced pure electric car you can buy.

The SE-L is reasonable too at £19,315 (virtually the same price as Seat’s version).

As well as the fast charging facility the SE L comes with 16in alloy wheels, bodycoloured

Skoda Citigo e iV four-door hatchback

Price: £19,315 (including PiCG) Engine: Electric motor, 82bhp Range: 161 miles 0-62mph: 12.3sec Fuel consumption: 0mpg Co2: 0g/km

mirrors, ambient lighting and a comfort pack that includes heated seats and parking sensors.

Like the petrol Citigo before it, the iV doesn’t come with an infotainment system but has a simple bracket into which you can put your smartphone. Perfect: no infotainment system to go out of date.

If it wasn’t for the fact that Skoda gives you the option of adding fast charging to the SE for an extra £720 plus another £170 for a type 2 cable to go with it, the choice between SE and SE L would simply come down to how you intend to use your Citigo e iV. If you live in an urban area and will use your car locally, you could easily live with the slower charging version.

But if you expect to regularly make longer journeys , then either upgrading an SE to CCS charging or buying the SE L would make better sense.

Talking of charging, it takes 16 hours to do it using a three-pin plug. Not a problem if you’re doing small city commutes.

You can tell the electric Citigo apart from its petrol predecessor because it has a blanked-off grille.

There’s also a subtle iV badge on the tailgate, a few badges inside, and green stitching on the seats and gear lever surround.

If like me you like small and

Claimed 160 miles range is likely achievable with a bit of restraint

simple cars you’ll like the Citigo e iV very much. You’ll also like the way the car drives.

The little EV is more than brisk enough to keep up with conventional traffic even if it doesn’t have the dragster performance of more powerful EVs such as Hyundai’s Kona EV.

There’s hardly any noise from the electric motor, and unless you have the wipers on not much noise from elsewhere.

The ride is comfortable and the handling perfectly adequate for a car unlikely to be regularly thrashed down country lanes.

That said, we were able to drive the Citigo e iV enthusiastically without savaging the range. The claimed 160 miles is likely achievable with a bit of restraint.

The Citigo does feel a bit dated inside but it’s remarkably spacious for its footprint, and filling the space under the boot with batteries hasn’t robbed the car of any luggage space.

Until a new from-the-groundup electric city car arrives, the Skoda Citigo e iV is the most affordable and effective urban EV you can buy.