UK Drive: Is the Skoda Elroq an ideal EV for families?

What is it?

If you’ve got small people in your lives, chances are stress levels are already pretty high. Dealing with potty-training-induced emergency stops, screaming infants and your 150th round of eye-spy can be a little taxing for the most patient of parents – so, do you need to throw an electric car into the mix?

Meet the Elroq – the electric car Skoda insists is perfect for families. It’s a mid-sized, Ford Focus-sized model that has a range of around 265 miles.

What’s new?

If you can get past the fact that the name sounds a little like a Spanish digital radio station, the Elroq is a funky-looking car with some clever touches.

It sits under the larger – and we’d argue more family-friendly – Enyaq, and offers silent electric driving at a relatively affordable price point. The Elroq starts at £34,450.

What’s under the bonnet?

Maybe other parents are less stressed, but the thought of planning EV charging stops into a family holiday schedule fills me with dread. But if you’re willing to take the plunge, the Elroq offers three battery sizes which will increase ranges depending on which you choose: 55kWh (230 miles), 63kWh (260 miles) and an 82kWh offering a promised 360 miles.

Remember these ranges will be drastically affected by the weather, your driving style and how many Pampers you’ve packed into the boot. Our test car had the 63kWh battery and could hit 60mph in around eight seconds, a top speed of 99mph and had 201bhp. At 80 per cent charged it was showing 158 miles of range left. It is capable of charging at speeds up to 165kW which is handy for fast charging on the go.

What’s it like to drive?

Like most electric cars, the Elroq is quiet and relaxing to drive – if you haven’t got Baa Baa Black Sheep blasting out of the speakers, that is. It’s not as neck-snapping quick as some EVs, but brisk enough to make getting out of junctions and at roundabouts a doddle.

It feels incredibly solid, too, not firm in a crashing suspension sort of way, but in a built-to-last sense. Skoda’s really do go on for years, as many taxis around the world prove.

How does it look?

Fun fact for the car geeks: The Elroq is the first model to debut the word Skoda written on both the bonnet and the steering wheel, as well as the boot lid – just in case you’ve forgotten what you bought. It’s a smart looking car which rides a little higher, like an SUV, but still has more coupe-like credentials.

There’s some bold paint colours to choose from, including a washed-out green, that actually suits the car very well indeed and the new front end looks striking on the road.

What’s it like inside?

For this test, we packed up the car with a family of five, including a baby, toddler and teenager, and struggled to get everything in. In fact, we needed to borrow a top box for our baby accompaniments as the boot simply wasn’t big enough.

With two baby seats in the back, our teenage daughter was squashed in the middle and, up front, it wasn’t much better. The centre tunnel is needlessly chunky and encroaches on the driver and passenger’s leg space and, if you’re tall, there’s not much legroom left at all. In fact, it all felt a little too cramped.

What’s the spec like?

Skoda has used hard wearing materials inside the cabin and there’s a huge 13-inch touchscreen display that offers Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.

Standard equipment includes a handy rear-view camera, remote air conditioning – so you can cool or heat the car from inside your house – and blind spot detection. Skodas notoriously come with plenty of extras to make your life a little easier too, and the Elroq is packed with them.

Verdict

As much as Skoda insists this is a family-friendly electric car, we find it hard to agree. Even if you’ve got fewer dependents than us, you’d still struggle to fit a pram or pushchair in the boot with the stuff you’ll need for a weekend away.

Factor in the woeful public charging infrastructure in the UK and you might find a family holiday takes a stressful turn. However, if you’re looking for an EV from a reliable manufacturer, packed with useful extras and smart looks, the Elroq could be for you. Just make sure you try its bigger brother first before splashing out.