VW’s electric transporters receives battery upgrade

Alongside its E-Transit Custom and the passenger variant, the E-Tourneo Custom, Ford collaborates with Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles to produce the VW Transporter and Caravelle models, available with both internal combustion engines and electric powertrains. It is therefore no surprise that the VW variants manufactured at the Turkish plant will also receive the upgrades recently announced by Ford.

The upgrade primarily focuses on the battery: the previous 64 kWh unit has been replaced with a 70 kWh battery, increasing the usable energy content. This boosts the VW electric transporter’s WLTP range to up to 380 kilometres, 13% more than before. The E-Transit Custom also benefits from a 13% range increase. Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles does not specify how the net energy content improvement is achieved. However, in December, a Ford spokesperson confirmed to electrive that the company would “utilise a higher proportion of the battery’s energy content” in future. “This means the battery size remains unchanged, but the usable capacity increases,” the spokesperson explained. Unfortunately, existing vehicles with the 64 kWh battery cannot be upgraded to 70 kWh via a software update.

The battery also features an improved charging curve: while the peak charging power remains at 125 kW, a higher power output can now be maintained for longer. As a result, the charging time from 10 to 80% is reduced to 30 minutes; ten minutes faster than before. According to VW Commercial Vehicles, a ten-minute charging stop can replenish enough power for 100 kilometres. Existing vehicles can benefit from this improvement via a software update, at least in the case of Ford. For the 64 kWh variant, the standard charging process is set to take just 25 minutes in future—down from the previous 39 minutes.

In line with the Ford model, the electric VW Transporter will also be available with an all-wheel-drive system from early 2026, which Volkswagen refers to as “4Motion”. The system combines the familiar rear motor with an additional electric machine on the front axle. As the two electric drive units are not mechanically coupled, torque can be distributed between the front and rear axles in a quick and demand-oriented manner, improving traction on construction sites, wet roads, or unpaved tracks, as VW Commercial Vehicles explains.

The all-wheel-drive system will be offered, like the rear-wheel-drive variants, in three power levels: 100 kW, 160 kW, and 210 kW. Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles does not provide the prices for the new model variants in its announcement, but the models are already listed in the configurator. The e-Transporter panel van with the 70.9 kWh battery starts at €59,369.10 (£49,890 net), while the all-wheel-drive version is listed at €65,259.60. For the e-Caravelle, aimed at private customers, the price difference is similar: €66,080.70 for the 100 kW rear-wheel-drive model and €71,971.20 for the 4Motion version. Due to the wide range of drive and body variants, we cannot list all individual prices here and instead refer you to the configurator (in German).

Source: Info via email (announcement), volkswagen-nutzfahrzeuge.de