SKODA

EXCLUSIVE: Octavia EV will enter the electric vehicle market after 2025

In June 2021, former Skoda CEO Thomas Schaefer announced that three electric vehicles would follow the Enyaq by the end of the decade, all smaller and cheaper. The next production version of the Vision 7S crossover concept will be one of them, as will the entry-level electric car announced in early May of this year. The third novelty may be the best seller Octavia. It will enter the electric vehicle market after 2025.

British magazine Autocar reported that specialists from Mladá Boleslav have begun to develop an all-electric version of the popular compact and midsize car. Interestingly, the zero-emissions Octavia will bypass the Volkswagen Group MEB platform used by Enyaq and adopt the upcoming SSP. It is said to use a more technologically advanced battery compared to the Vision 7S's 89 kWh battery, which Skoda says lasts for 600 kilometers and has a maximum charging capacity of 200 kilowatts.

The regular Octavia EV is expected to have two front-mounted electric motors – one for each wheel – while the hotter RS ​​version will add two electric motors to the rear, allowing for an all-wheel drive layout. This won't be the first Octavia RS to feature all-wheel drive, as the diesel version of the ICE-powered model has been offered with all-wheel drive as an option for many years. Skoda will introduce the new Rally Sport version at least one year after the standard car.

The Octavia EV won't be the end of the TSI and TDI models, as Skoda plans to keep the conventional engine model in the lineup. However, the brand is obliged to abandon internal combustion engines in 2035, when the ban on the sale of all new cars with internal combustion engines comes into force in the European Union. Meanwhile, the current fourth-generation model will see a mid-cycle facelift in 2024.

Skoda has already partially electrified the Octavia by introducing a plug-in hybrid powertrain that is offered in two power modes, with the most powerful reserved for the RS model. In addition, the flagship Superb also has a PHEV configuration and will continue with a charging port for its next generation, which will arrive in 2023.

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