We found an electric SUV capable of driving more than 350 km on the highway

Our “long-distance” test of the Skoda Enyaq Coupé 85 revealed a model perfectly suited for long journeys despite its limited recharging capacity.

Electric vehicle travel is still constrained by the limited freedom of many models on the market. If newcomers such as Renault Scenic E-Tech, Peugeot e-3008 or Audi Q6 e-tron announce an increased range (between 530 and 680 km), this is often at the price of a bigger and heavier battery (98). The kWh battery on the Peugeot SUV is proof of this). Others, like Kia with the EV6 or Hyundai with the Ioniq 5, opt for super-fast charging to compensate for the smaller battery size. In both cases, the reality of a long electric journey is basically the same: it is difficult, even in a good example, to hope to drive more than 300 kilometers on the highway without going to a charging station.

At 01net.com, this symbolic 300 km limit has also been, during our tests, the upper limit for determining whether an electric car can qualify as “road”. This threshold is more difficult to reach when the vehicle is long, heavy and has a poor Cx (drag coefficient), which is the case for almost all SUVs. This is, for example, what explains why more than three years ago, the two best cars we have tested on a long trip have been sedans. Recently Volkswagen ID.7 and Hyundai Ioniq 6 are the two models that allowed us (with the exact same battery size) to go further with one charge: 415 km and Korean.

300 km: a threshold value difficult to reach in an electric SUV

To put it another way, approaching or going more than 300 kilometers of freedom on the highway (at 130 km / h on cruise control and without turning off the climate) with an electric SUV is possible, we achieved it with the Mustang Mach. – e from Ford or Audi Q4 e-tron Sportback, for example, but hardly exceed this threshold value.

So there was hope when we got behind the wheel of our Skoda Enyaq coupe 85 test. And for good reason, the Czech manufacturer announces no less than 573 kilometers of autonomy in the version of the direction of “long autonomy” of its SUV. We had already tested this model in its last iteration, the most modern, in 2021. Then it showed 534 km of theoretical autonomy, with the same battery and also surprised us with a consumption slightly higher than 22 kWh / 100 km at a quick glance. .

Three years later, a new version, based on the same platform and equipment and battery of the same capacity, exhibits 40 km more autonomy. At the same time, several updates have been made, software improvements have been made and with them the hope of reaching 300 km on the highway, but easily exceeded. So we took the road to the Atlantic coast by a route of almost 1000 km (486 km there and back). Objective: to estimate the actual capacity of the Enyaq road while limiting itself to one stop per trip.

Less than 21 kWh/100 km on the road: a (very) pleasant surprise.

While most electric SUVs of the same size are around 24/25 kWh/100 km on the highway, our Enyaq Coupé 85 was satisfied with an average consumption of 20.8 kWh on the outbound trip and 21 kWh/100 km on the highway on the way back. A slight difference in temperature as well as a stronger wind on the second trip could certainly explain this slight difference, but in both cases, it must be noted that our test car’s experience was well below average.

As for the trip itself, it was made with only one stop, as planned. On the way out, we chose to stop at Parcé-sur-Sarthe after 267 kilometers covered. At that time our consumption was 21.2 kWh/100 km (so it dropped later), and we had 20% of the battery left when we recharged, or about a hundred kilometers of margin if we consider it according to the consumption observed up to that time.

This is also what we wanted to check on our return journey using as many kilometers as possible without stopping, but still keeping a cushion of around twenty kilometers of freedom to avoid any unpleasant surprises. Note in passing that this type of exercise is easier as we approach the Paris area as there are more rest areas with stations than on the other side. It was during this trip that we achieved our best autonomous performance on the highway with the Enyaq 85. About 350 km without using the charging box and almost entirely on the highway. Based on our remaining range and consumption (kWh 21/100 km) we can confirm that the Skoda SUV can aim for 370 km on the highway in good driving conditions.

Recharge: too little improvement to matter

With this update, Enyaq has also improved in terms of payments. A slight improvement, but an improvement nonetheless. In fact, the electric SUV went from a charging power of 125 kW to 135 kW. It’s actually quite subtle and allows it to be slightly below average for its category which we currently estimate at 150 kW.

This is also and unfortunately the main weakness of this most successful model. The Enyaq 85 suffers from a structural deficiency there, that of the MEB platform which, despite a slight increase, covers it with 135 kW in fast charging. The figure is not really embarrassing, it allows you to go from 10 to 80% battery in less than 40 minutes, but it is not comparable to the main competitors of Enyaq that hover between 150 kW and 170 kW for electric Renault Scénic and Peugeot. e-3008, but which can also reach 230 kW in the case of Korean SUVs from the Hyundai Kia group, the Ioniq 5 and the other Kia EV6.

With an older platform than these new ones, Enyaq is behind at this stage and therefore relies more on its measured usage to show a good score of independence.

Initial condition / tenant: two areas for improvement

This long-distance test was also an opportunity to test two important functions of electric road cars. The first is none other than battery pre-conditioning, a process that allows Enyaq to adjust the temperature of its collector and thus increase its fast charging. At this point, we thought we would find the same tool in Enyaq that had convinced us of id.7 built on the same platform. It hasn’t happened. The Skoda SUV’s air conditioning system seemed sluggish to us and didn’t seem to have any effect on the quality of our charge, at least according to the indications given on the screen. Launched well before stopping at the station (about 20 minutes before), it could not recharge, at least in theory. In fact, while it promised us a maximum flow rate of 94 kW, our Enyaq managed to reach a peak of 135 kW. Show error? Bad math? What we are sure of is that the system was indeed activated in the twenty minutes that preceded our outage because during that period our usage suddenly increased by a few tenths.

The results are also mixed with the Enyaq routing tool. In this area, Skoda is doing badly as is the case with the rest of the Volkswagen group and many manufacturers who seem to be uninterested in this issue. Only Tesla and more recently Renault (with the help of Google) seem to be tackling the issue in the right direction by giving the driver the right information and greater freedom to vary the parameters of their journey. In the case of Skoda, unfortunately we are content with a typical charging signal that is broken as soon as we modify the route taken to some extent. As with most of the cars we test, we can only advise you to rely on specific software. Currently, ABRP (Best Router) is our preferred one.

Test decision:

While many electric SUVs struggle to break the 300 km barrier on the highway, the Enyaq Coupé 85 easily crosses it. Skoda’s SUV can boast of being one of the most comfortable electric vehicles on long journeys, although it doesn’t have fast charging worthy of the name or a large battery. In this sense, the Skoda electric SUV is a different car, but not without interest, on the contrary! Coming in at number four on our list of eco-bonus cars with the best autonomy, it sees its promise confirmed… and the test changed!

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