Volkswagen are now offering their new electric up!, dubbed the e-up!, from £199/month. The car’s price is a not insignificant £19,250 after the Governments current Plug-in Car Grant of £5,000 is taken away from the true price VW are asking; £24,250.
Deliveries are expected to commence at the end of January so although still not cheap, ever popular finance deals are likely to be popular with New Year personal financials after Christmas.
Although we feel the e-up! is overpriced compared to it’s nearest competitors, the little car does offer good levels of equipment as standard and of course that silent and smooth drive which only electric cars can provide.
The car is likely to appeal to the hearts of many commuters in particular who will be able to take advantage of the e-up!’s sub-100 mile range on a daily basis. Volkswagen are offering similar finance deals on their standard up! meaning that flexible amounts can be offered up as deposit on the car, including the Government Plug-in Car Grant value too. For example, the £199 stated earlier would be attainable if there was a combined deposit value of £12,058.73. The APR (annual percentage rate) is 6.6% making the total cost £26,119.93 over a 35 month period as you can see in the image below.
What is slightly more interesting than the more average finance package that Volkswagen are calling ‘e-Solutions plan’, is that should you find the electric car doesn’t fit into your lifestyle, there is an opt out clause meaning that if after 12 months worth of payments you want to return the car, you can but of course, this would be subject to many terms and conditions – likely mileage and condition will be influencing factors.
Volkswagen are rather cheekily plugging (excuse the pun) their free wall box charging unit, courtesy of British Gas which is actually a rebranded Chargemaster unit which can be obtained for free anyway, even without Volkswagen’s input due to current government funding. The unit is a 3.6kW supply which will charge the e-up! in around 6 hours from a completely flat battery. As per usual though it is possible to charge the e-up! to 80 percent in just 30 minutes using a public CCS 40kW charging unit. Cables are provided for both the standard UK 3-pin plug that we all know and love plus a CCS socket too.
Photo source; VW
