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The Vauxhall Mokka-e is an all-electric ‘crossover’ version of the Corsa-e, it’s fun to drive, it has a driving range of 201 miles, and it’s one of the more affordable electric cars.
The Mokka is a crossover version of the Corsa, and the Mokka-e is the all-electric model. It has a Vauxhall badge but it shares a platform with other vehicles in the Stellantis Group such as Peugeot and Citroen. So should you choose the Mokka-e?
The design of the Mokka-e fits in with the new house style at Vauxhall – which looks more modern than the previous Mokka. There’s also a ridge down the bonnet along the lines of that seen on the (old) Vauxhall Viva, and the appearance of our test car was lifted thanks to the red trim on the exterior and on the inside.
The interior also fits in with the current style of other Vauxhalls, which is a bit more basic than the more high-tech Peugeot e-2008.
Under the skin is a 50kW lithium-ion battery, which sits in the floor, and a 100kW electric motor. Despite the crossover styling – which features a very short rear overhang – the Mokka-e is just front-wheel drive.
Because the Mokka is based on the Corsa, it’s more compact than spacious – there’s a 310-litre boot, or 1,060 litres with the rear seats down.
The Mokka-e is electric so it’s much better (and easier) to drive than a petrol car. This is because it offers instant responses when asked to accelerate, and it’s quiet and refined. The battery is in the floor, giving a low centre of gravity, so there’s minimal roll when cornering – despite having higher ground clearance than a Corsa. A disadvantage of electric cars can be their weight, because batteries are heavy. However the Mokka-e has a kerb weight of 1,598kg, which is relatively light for an EV, which certainly helps to make it fun to drive.
It’s front-wheel drive so you’re likely to experience some wheelspin and/or torque steer if accelerating enthusiastically in the wet.
The Mokka-e is likely to be used primarily around town or for mainly short journeys, when it performs well overall; however at motorway speeds some road noise is evident, which is really the only thing that spoils the overall refinement of the electric experience.
There are three drive modes: Eco, Normal and Sport (which delivers good performance); and you can increase the amount of brake regeneration by selecting B rather than D. There’s a bit of a delayed reaction between selecting a drive mode and the drive mode changing.
So overall the Mokka-e is a car that we like very much, but the top item for improvement is the gear selector, which is very small and fiddly. Next to the gear selector are the letters P, R, N, D and B. You move the gear selector between R, N and D, but you press the buttons to select P and B. Also, you don’t get instant responses when changing between gears – you have to hold the selector in position for a short time before the new gear is engaged.
It also takes a while for the car to react when trying to switch it off – you have to hold the stop/start button for a longer time than you do with most other cars.
The infotainment is reasonably clear and straightforward, and although there’s a 10-inch colour touchscreen, the map is very small on the screen. However the image from the reversing camera is a decent size and clear.
More good news is that the button to switch off the lane departure warning system is in easy reach. The bad news is that if you don’t switch it off, there’s massive intervention from the steering if you drive near a white line.
The final point to note is that the Isofix sockets in the seats are hidden behind the seat material, and have to be accessed via zips – which is not one of the most user-friendly solutions when trying to fit a child’s car seat.
We’ve already driven the Vauxhall Mokka-e on the UK launch, but it isn’t possible to test the real-world driving range at such an event. Having now tested this, there’s more good news: even though the official combined range is 201 miles, over a week of mixed driving we averaged 188 miles of range when fully charged, so that’s not a huge amount lower than the official figure. However the range goes down more quickly at motorway speeds than is the case with many EVs.
The Mokka-e supports up to 100kW rapid charging, when an 15%-80% charge could take just 30 minutes. Using a 50kW rapid charger a 15%-80% charge should take 45 minutes.
The car has an on-board 11kW charger. Using a domestic 7kW wallbox, a 0-100% charge should take 7 hours 30 minutes, while a full charge using a 22kW public charger should take just over 5 hours.
Electric cars do not charge at their maximum charge rate for an entire charging session – their charge rate typically starts off high with a battery with a low state of charge, then the charge rate decreases as the battery charge increases. See the charge curve for the Vauxhall Mokka-e from Fastned:
The Vauxhall Mokka-e is available in the trim levels of SE Nav Premium (£30,540), SRi Nav Premium (as tested) (£32,435), Elite Nav Premium (£32,080), and Launch Edition (£32,495) (prices after the £2,500 government plug-in car grant). Our test car also had the option of ‘Brilliant paint’ (£320). For comparison, the Mokka-e is available with a petrol engine from £20,735 to £29,685.
Running costs of the Mokka-e could be just one-fifth of the costs of a petrol Mokka. And if the Mokka-e is bought as a company car, there’s just 1% Benefit in Kind company car tax for 2021/22.
The lithium-ion battery has an eight-year/100,000-mile warranty.
Read the Ford Puma Gen-E review and book a test drive
The Vauxhall Mokka-e is a car that we like, primarily because it’s fun to drive and it’s relatively affordable compared to some EVs. It looks more modern and characterful than the previous Mokka, and although it’s a small car, it’s still reasonably practical. We’d like to see a gear selector that isn’t as small and fiddly, and there’s some road noise at motorway speeds. Overall we need more EVs like the Vauxhall Mokka-e, and it gains a Green Car Guide rating of 9 out of 10.
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