Cupra Born review: range, battery & charging

Under its sharp bodywork, the Cupra Born shares its platform with many electric cars we’re already familiar with. The list includes the Volkswagen ID.3 hatchback, the ID.4 SUV and ID.5 coupe-SUV, as well as the Audi Q4 e-tron and Skoda Enyaq. In some markets, the Born is offered with a smaller 45kWh battery, though UK buyers only get the larger 58kWh and 77kWh options. This is no hardship, however, as both offer good range and fast charging – the biggest battery models can officially return up to 335 miles on a charge.

Cupra Born range

Mostly targeted at city buyers, the smaller 58kWh battery Cupra Born offers between 260-264 miles of range, depending on specification. This is more than what you’d get in a small electric SUV like the Vauxhall Mokka Electric, and comes close to the target range of other small electric family cars such as the Kia Niro EV and Renault Megane E-Tech. 

During our time with the 58kWh V1 model, we averaged around 3.4 miles per kWh, which translates to a range of very nearly 200 miles. While this is a little way off Cupra’s claimed figure, this should be sufficient for most buyers and we suspect those driving less enthusiastically than we did could get even closer to the target number than we did.

We’ve also been lucky enough to run the range-topping 77kWh model as a long term test car. This, according to Cupra, will offer a range of up to 335 miles on a single charge; over a term of roughly 9,000 miles, we averaged around 3.9 miles per kWh. This converts to a range of around 300 miles – not bad considering we used the car over a mix of city and motorway driving.

Charge time

Borns with a 58kWh battery can be charged at up to 125kW, meaning topping up from 5-80% using a fast enough rapid-charging point takes 35 minutes. The top-of-the-range 77kWh model can be recharged at up to 135kW. So, if you find a fast enough charger, you can top up the bigger battery from 5-80% in just 36 minutes – or to put it another way, add 62 miles of range in only seven minutes. 

We’ve actually put these claims to the test, and managed to charge a Cupra Born V1 with the 58kWh battery from around 12-80% in just over half an hour at an ultra-rapid public charger, which isn’t far shy of the maker’s claims. In that time, we managed to have a coffee and check some emails, before disconnecting the car and setting on our way.

Using a 7kW home wallbox to fully recharge the Cupra Born will take around nine hours for cars fitted with the 58kWh battery. Go for the largest battery and it'll take over 12 hours to fully recharge.