VW e-Up: One of the worst DC charging curves ever

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Sobering test results also apply to Seat Mii Electric and Skoda Citigo e iV

VW e-Up: One of the worst DC charging curves ever-e-up

The Volkswagen Group’s electric triplets – VW e-Up, Skoda Citigo e iV and Seat Mii Electric – are among the most popular electric cars ever. The e-Up was even a German electronic bestseller in the first five months of 2021. But how quickly do the three tiny things load?

For fast charging with 40 kW direct current (DC), the group specifies a charging time of 60 minutes for the charging process from 0 to 80 percent. It’s anything but fast. The onboard charger creates 7.2 kW.

The fast charging provider Fastned has tested the VW e-Up in terms of DC charging. We analyze the data in the following article.

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VW e-Up: One of the worst DC charging curves ever-charging

Skoda Citigo e iV

VW e-Up: One of the worst DC charging curves ever-charging

Seat Mii electric

Charging curve: flat, but also low

According to the data, the maximum charging power of the triplets (all three are technically identical) is 38 kW. This is one of the lowest DC charging values ​​on the market. One reason that comes to mind first might be the fact that the battery does not have liquid cooling (to save costs). With a city car, that’s not a big problem either.

VW e-Up: One of the worst DC charging curves ever-charging

The charging curve is quite flat. It starts at around 35 kW and reaches its maximum at around 30 percent state of charge (SOC). Then the charging power drops fairly steadily, up to an SOC of around 75 percent. Then 21 kW are reached. After that, the charging power drops quite quickly.

Average charging power: only 30 kW

The average charging power in the important range of 20 to 80 percent SOC is 30 kW (marked in black in the diagram below). It’s not really fast. Even if you run the battery down to 10 percent (third column from the left), the average hardly improves.

VW e-Up: One of the worst DC charging curves ever-charging

C rates: Maximum 1C

The so-called C-rate indicates how the charging power relates to the capacity of the battery. For example, 1C is reached if the battery is fully charged in one hour. With the VW e-Up, which has a battery capacity of 36.8 kWh, an average charging power of 36.8 kW would be required. If it only took half an hour to fully charge, 2C would be reached. This would then require an average of around 74 kW.

But in reality a maximum of 1C is reached:

VW e-Up: One of the worst DC charging curves ever-ever

How fast is the range recharged??

The charging performance is relatively low, but charging performance is not everything. If the range is not sufficient for a trip, you want to know how long you have to wait at the charging station before you can drive the next 100 or 200 kilometers. In other words: you want to know how quickly you can recharge range. And this value depends not only on the charging power but also on the power consumption.

We calculate the power consumption from the WLTP range and the net battery capacity. VW specifies the WLTP range at 260 km, the usable battery capacity is 32.3 kWh. If we divide the 32.3 kWh by 2.6, the result is a power consumption of 12.4 kWh / 100 km.

You can now calculate how quickly the range is recharged. To do this, we divide the average charging power (30 kW, see above) by the power consumption (12.4 kWh / 100 km or 124 Wh / km or 7,440 Wmin / km) and get 4 kilometers per minute. Reloading from a range of 100 km therefore takes about 25 minutes.

The following diagram shows how this value changes during charging (because the charging power changes):

VW e-Up: One of the worst DC charging curves ever-curves

At best, you can count on 5 km / min for range reloading. That should be enough for the city: You can use it to charge electricity for another 50 km in 10 minutes. But longer waiting times have to be accepted for further journeys.

You can see how the VW e-Up compares to other small electric cars in our newer quick charge analyzes:

More fast charge analyzes from other small electric cars: VW e-Up: One of the worst DC charging curves ever-ever Fiat 500 e recharges range much faster than the competition

VW e-Up: One of the worst DC charging curves ever-charging Honda e: Disappointing behavior when fast charging

Note: This quick charge analysis by Mark Kane was published in January, when InsideEVs Germany didn’t even exist. However, the results are so interesting that we are now handing them in at a later date.

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