Frankfurt Live - 2014 VW e-Up! electrifies the stage

10/09/2013 - 12:56 VW Up!, Volkswagen, 2013 Frankfurt Motor Show Anjan Ravi

While the 2014 VW e-Up! was announced at VW's 2013 Annual Press and Investor's conference in Wolfsburg in March this year, the Frankfurt Motor Show is where the electric hatchback gets its world debut.

VW e-Up! front quarter — VW e-Up! has a range of up to 150km

Exterior wise, the e-Up! gets differently designed 15-inch alloy wheels, e-Up! logos on the bootlid and the doors, and the 'VW' logo on the grille comes in a blue tint. Sitting inside, if you're unable to tell the e-Up! from the normal Up! (even by glancing the instrument cluster and the rev counter which goes up to 10,000rpm), you should notice the light-grey seat covers and the blue stitching, reminders that you're driving something different.

VW e-Up! rear quarter — The styling of the e Up! is subtle and expresses high quality

An 82PS electric motor churning 210Nm of torque from zero rpm ensures that the e-Up! can do 0-100km/h in 14 seconds and a top-speed of 135km/h. The e-Up! gets an 18.7 kWh battery pack and a claimed range of 150km on a full charge. Using 'fast-charge' technology, 80% of the battery can be recharged within 30 minutes.

Prices for the e-Up! start from 26,900 euros (INR 23.47 lakhs) in Germany. Priced roughly 2.5 times that of the normal Up!, the e-Up! is more expensive than the bigger Nissan Leaf (which retails from 23,790 euros) and pretty close to the 34,950 euro BMW i3.