Is The New VW E-Golf Fully Electric?

The new Volkswagen E-Golf is fully electric and can also be fully charged in around 45 minutes. And with a 144-mile effective range, it is one of the most reliable city EVs produced in the past year. 

If you’re wondering what driving or sitting in the 2019 Volkswagen E-Golf feels like, it’s as comfortable as sitting in a Volkswagen Golf, just quieter. And if we add the electric acceleration on top of that, it gets really fun to put your foot on the pedal.

Golf has always been a benchmark for family hatchback vehicles, and with Volkswagen’s proven pedigree, you can expect the same with the new EVs coming out of their high-tech factories.

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How Fast Does The VW E-Golf Charge?

How fast your EV charges greatly depends on the socket’s voltage and on the type of charger or charging station you are plugged into.

But it is safe to say that the E-Golf charges much quicker, from 0% to 80%, than almost any other EV currently out there. These are the current charging times you can comfortably get at home with the stock chargers:

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When using a rapid station to charge the vehicle, it gets charged from 0 to 80% in around 40 minutes on both 50 kW and 150 kW.

What Charger Does The E-Golf Use?

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The Volkswagen E-Golf uses a standard Type 2 plug, making it compatible with both at-home and public charging stations. 

Volkswagen has been smart enough to use the already established CCS (Combined Charging System) charging standards, which means the electric Golf can be charged using DC and AC inlet ports. The charging port on the E-Golf is where the petrol flap is usually on a non-electric Golf.

Can You Charge E-Golf With Both 120V and 240V Outlets?

The E-Golf can be charged using both voltages, with the main difference being the charge time. On a 120-volt outlet, it would take around 25 hours to get your batteries to a full charge, while on 240 volts, it would take less than six hours.

How To Tell The Difference Between CSS and Type 2 Charging?

The CCS rapid charger is usually a part of the charging unit you would attach to your Type 2 car socket, so you don’t need to purchase a CSS charger as it comes with each charging station. The Type 2 connector comes in stock when you purchase your E-Golf.

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The E-Golf can be charged both quickly and slowly, depending on the type of charging unit you are using, as described above. When using the CCS Rapid 50kW, the 2019 Volkswagen E-Golf charges in around 30 minutes.

Is E-Golf’s Effective Range Enough?

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Compared to other EVs in the same price range and segment, the E-Golf’s range doesn’t quite meet the benchmark. However, as a city vehicle, it provides more comfort and cargo space than other electric cars in the niche.

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Golf compensates with the quick charging time, meaning a heavy driver might spend the entirety of 144 miles of electricity in the battery, but it wouldn’t take much time to charge it back and keep going.

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What makes this car so good is the fact that even after extensive review, it has received almost no complaints since 2015. And to bump up the reliability score, VW even offers a 100,000-mile drivetrain warranty, which ensures you receive a new battery if something happens to yours in under the 100k mile range.

What’s The Cost of Charging Your Volkswagen E-Golf?

While charging costs greatly range from state to state, the values below are estimates, showing the values and thus the advantage of cheaper nocturnal electricity costs.

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Investing in a charging station at home would greatly decrease the time and cost of charging your electric vehicle because you could always use the charging time during the cheaper nocturnal energy (off-peak) hours.

If you aren’t sure how to optimize your charging in terms of cost and time, there are online applications that can do that for you, just like Optiwatt. It can calculate your total spend per charge or for some time and create a better charging schedule for you. Go ahead and check it out.

Are There Any Major Differences Across Trims?

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There are only two trims available for purchase, and to be honest, there isn’t a whole lot of difference between them. The 2019 Electric Golf comes in SE, and SEL Premium trims, with around $7,000 in difference in MSRP (manufacturer's suggested retail price) between them and the following improvements:

The SEL Premium trim comes with a built-in 12.3-inch display Volkswagen calls the “Digital Cockpit.” And on top of that, you would also get a 9.25-inch infotainment screen, parking sensors, adaptive cruise control, and LED headlights. 

Both trims can get the add-on of the driver assistance package, which includes rear traffic alerts, ACC (adaptive cruise control), forward collision warning, blind-spot monitor, pedestrian monitoring, and AEB(automatic emergency braking).

 In terms of colors, they both come in the same color palettes:

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Pros and Cons of the VW E-Golf

Pros

• One of the quickest charging EVs.
• Drives great and is like a petrol Golf.
• It has a lot of storage space in the booth compared to other EVs

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Cons

• Much shorter range than its competitors (only 144 miles).
• No sport driving mode across trims.

Does Volkswagen Produce Any Other EVs?

Aside from the E-Golf, Volkswagen also offers the I.D models as well as the VW e-up!, which is very widely accepted in most urban areas. Aside from these, just in March 2022, the ID BUZZ was launched. The BUZZ is a fully-electric van, almost entirely made from recycled materials. Regardless, it has a very high-quality feel and looks.

‍Volkswagen's vehicles consist of two electric motors, one in the front and the other in the back. After some complaints regarding the initial 2015 E-Golf’s range, the next generation of EVs from Volkswagen aims to achieve a range matching the petrol car models.

EVs Manufactured From Recycled Plastic

Volkswagen plans to produce vehicles from recycled materials such as sea plastic. Currently, The VW BUZZ is composed of up to 70% recyclates, which lowers the carbon emissions during the production of each electric vehicle by 30 percent. 

‍With all of these EVs being produced by Volkswagen and other brands, the public is getting used to EVs, and soon, more electric vehicles will be produced than gas automobiles.

What Else Do You Need to Know About the E-Golf?

The 2019 Volkswagen E-Golf’s fully electric motor is powered by a 35.8 kWh battery setup and outputs 134 horsepower, which means more than enough power for a city hatchback vehicle. 

Compared to other EVs like Model 3 or Hyundai’s Kona, the range is lacking. The E-Golf has a limited effective range of fewer than 140 miles, which, compared to other EVs, is only about half of what the competition offers.

The VW’s hatchback EV is very agile but didn’t quite astonish us with its 0 to 60 mph score. The E-Golf took a little over 8.5 seconds to reach 60 mph (100 km/h).

Final Thoughts

Volkswagen’s electric Golf has been around since 2015 and saw major improvements in the 2019 version. However, this is just the beginning of EVs produced by Volkswagen, a brand that always considers its clientele's opinion. 

Volkswagen literally means the wagon of the people, which lives up to its name, especially after starting to manufacture electric vehicles out of recyclates. The E-Golf is overall a good city car and exactly what you would expect from the handsome family hatchback - the VW Golf.