• Low running costs
• 0-100% battery in 7.5 hours
• Less to go wrong than petrol or diesel car

How much is it going to cost to run?

How much the Corsa-e costs to run depends very much on where you charge it, and your electricity tariff. Public charging for electric cars can be expensive, especially if you want to use the fastest charging technology available and you don’t have an up-front subscription.

However, its excellent MPP figure of 5.9 - 11.8 is a boon, as are the tax savings due to the Corsa-e attracting zero-rated VED.

Range and charging

The Vauxhall Corsa-e is powered by a 50kWh lithium-ion battery made up of 216 individual cells. That gives it an official range of 209 miles in real world WLTP testing – or 180-plus in normal day-to-day driving. Good, but not the best, especially considering the near-300 miles you get from an (admittedly much more expensive) Hyundai Kona Electric.

Using a domestic wallbox charger, both 7.4kW and 11kW Corsa-e models will fully recharge in 7.5 hours. On a 22kW fast charger the 7.4kW car will recharge in five hours, while the 11kW car takes 3hrs 20mins. A high current DC 50kW charger will blast both model’s batteries to 80 % percent in 45mins, while the same charge using a 100kW charger takes 30mins.

Servicing and warranty

What you see is what you get with Vauxhall servicing and warranty. There are lots of dealers; parts and labour costs are competitive and there are a number of service packages to help you spread the cost of maintenance over several months.

Vauxhall offers a three-year/60,000-mile warranty as standard, which you can extend to four or five years for an additional fee. However, compared to the seven-year packages offered by Kia and MG, or the 10-year scheme available with Toyotas, Vauxhall’s warranty looks a little meagre.

Reliability

• Fewer bits to go wrong
• Little in the way of consumer testing
• Looks and feels solid

Generally, electric cars have fewer moving parts than petrol or diesel cars. This, theoretically means there’s less to go wrong. Although, we should explain that Vauxhall’s electrical propulsion systems are relatively unproven among customers.

Vauxhall’s vehicle warranty seems a bit stingy when compared to its rivals. But at least the battery that powers the Corsa-e comes with a 100,000 mile/eight-year warranty, which should give buyers a little more peace of mind.

Inside, it feels well put-together with hard wearing plastic trims.