Škoda Auto divulges Vision E electric car concept ahead of Shanghai debut
Ahead of the presentation of a prototype at next month’s Shanghai Motor Show in China, Czech carmaker Škoda Auto has just revealed details about, and images of, its first ever fully electric car. The Vision E will combine SUV and coupe elements, travel up to 550 kilometres on one charge-up and be capable of a significant level of autonomous driving.
Alongside these the Volkswagen-owned Škoda is also planning on a number of plug-in hybrid models, with the Superb already planned for 2019. In a news release issued on Wednesday, the company’s CEO Bernhard Maier said the “electric era” was beginning.
The Vision E concept combines elements of a coupe body and the highly fashionable SUV. The images revealed bring to mind a coupe version of the recently launched Kodiaq that Škoda plans for the Chinese market. However, it is a different car, brand representatives told iHned.cz.
While electric cars in many cases are the least attractive models offered by big manufacturers, Škoda says it aims to make the Vision E fun. “We are combining electro-mobility with emotion,” said Bernhard Maier.
As for autonomous driving, the vehicle will meet level three requirements. That means it will be able to operate independently in traffic jams, go into autopilot on motorways, stay in lane and swerve, overtake independently, find parking spaces and park and leave parking spaces on its own.
Škoda has been an odd man out among big carmakers in not yet producing electric vehicles, but Mr. Maier said the company was now starting “at the right time”.
Last year the sale of electric cars in Europe accounted for just 0.57 percent of the total. In the Czech Republic only 200 new ones were registered.
Škoda’s product management chief Guido Haak said there are four reasons sales are so low: Electric cars are expensive, they don’t go far enough on one charge-up, there are too few charging stations and many are not attractively designed. Škoda wants all of these problems to be dealt with by 2020.
By that time electric vehicles should account for up to 8 percent of the total new car market in Europe, the company says. By 2025 it should be 25 percent, it believes says.
In China the prediction is for 30 percent of new cars to be electric by 2025. That is one of the reasons the Škoda Vision E will be unveiled in Shanghai.
