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The smallest Skoda electric car yet might have the biggest part to play in driving forward this Czech maker's EV aspirations. The Epiq is a VW Group small electric crossover that could be the perfect second family car you've been looking for. Epiq? Maybe not, but it's a really solid piece of sensible small car engineering.
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Background
Skoda is getting progressively more mainstream with its electric cars. Here's the most accessible yet, the Epiq.
The Czech brand is slowly widening its market for EVs, though the company continues to limit itself to the crossover genre. First in 2020 we had the lower mid-sized Enyaq. Then in 2024 the family hatch-sized Elroq. Followed in Spring 2026 by the car we look at here, the even more compact Epiq.
This model is part of the VW Group's 'Urban EV Family' of cars based on the Wolfsburg conglomerate's MEB+ platform, an initiative that's already brought us the CUPRA Raval and the Volkswagen ID.Polo. The Epiq's (somewhat nominal) status as a crossover though, means it's a more direct rival to the Volkswagen ID.Cross, the two cars almost identically engineered. The Epiq is being positioned within Skoda's line-up as a direct alternative to the combustion Kamiq model - and is similarly priced. Let's take a closer look.
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Range data
| Min | Max |
| Price | 24950 | 31450 |
| Max Speed (mph) | 99 | 99 |
| 0-62 mph (s) | 10 | 10 |
| Min | Max |
| Length (mm) | 4171 | 4171 |
| Width (mm) | 1798 | 1798 |
| Height (mm) | 1581 | 1581 |
| Boot Capacity (l) | 475 | 475 |
Driving experience
Move right along, there's nothing to see here - at least in terms of much Skoda-specific engineering. The Epiq is entirely engineered with the parent VW Group's MEB+ architecture. Which means that (unlike the Elroq and the Enyaq) the drive motor is up-front. As for the drive battery, which sits under the floor between the two axles, well as with this model's most direct clone, the Volkswagen ID.Cross, there's a choice of two sizes of powerpack.
Urban-based folk or owners using this as a second car may well decide that the smaller LFP one used in the 'Epiq 40' is sufficient, 37kWh in size and rated for around 190 miles. It comes with a 135PS front motor. If your Epiq might also be used for longer trips, then you'll be considering the 'Epiq 55' model's larger 52kWh NMC battery, good for up to 272 miles and offered only with a 211PS motor.
Performance is quite leisurely across the mainstream part of the line-up: expect 0-62mph to take around 10s and top speed is limited to 93mph for the 37kWh versions and 99mph for the 52kWh model. Skoda does have the option to bolt in the 226PS e-motor used in the Volkswagen ID.Polo GTI and CUPRA Raval VZ to create a top Epiq vRS variant, but hasn't yet decided whether to bother.
More important than speed to a typical Eqiq customer will be ride and refinement, which is where the engineering development of this car has rightly centred. Expect the comfortable demeanour to be much like that of this car's Volkswagen ID.Cross close cousin, but of course with extra Skoda value and practical features thrown in. All Epiqs get brake regen steering wheel paddles, with near 'one-pedal' driving possible on the fiercest setting. But you only get drive modes if you've avoided base trim.
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Design and build
There's a new interpretation here of the 'Tech-Deck' face we've seen on other recent Skoda designs. This sees the nose framed by prominent T-shaped daytime running lights, with a black band across the frontage that in curving up to meet them incorporates cleverly-hidden full-LED headlamps.
The other styling keynote is the 8 pill-shaped indentations that you can't avoid staring at in the front and rear bumpers. Skoda says that these were inspired by grooves in a cycling helmet. Behind them lie discreetly integrated active shutters and air curtains. At 4.2-metres long, this is a slightly more compact thing than it looks - Puma GEN-E or Renault 4-sized - and it sits on big wheel rims sized between 18 and 20-inches.
The front-of-cabin experience is a mixture between the new and the familiar. Familiar (to anyone who's been in a current Elroq or Enyaq) will be the 13-inch central touchscreen and 5.3-inch instrument display (the Epiq hasn't yet joined the current VW Group design trend for larger instrument clusters). But it all sits within a more horizontal dashboard layout that's lifted by metal-effect trim, ambient lighting and soft-touch mottled material finishing that flows on into the doors.
Disappointingly, unlike in the cousin Volkswagen ID.Polo design, there are no physical climate controls - everything works through the touchscreen. That doesn't seem 'Simply Clever' to us, but lots else about the usable interior of this car does. So there's a handy umbrella hidden in the driver's door, without which these days a Skoda would hardly be a Skoda. Plus a ticket holder in the windscreen and an ice scraper in the boot lid. We particularly like the compact bag for the charging cables that attaches to the rear seat backs and keeps said cables out of the way; other brands, please copy. There's lots of interior stowage space too - 26-litres around the cabin, with lots of stowage space under the 'floating' centre console.
The back seat doesn't do anything fancy but can accommodate a couple of six-foot adults, though they won't have a lot of knee room. The rear doors open wide so parents can more easily lean in and strap up child seats (there are three isofix child seat attachment points provided around the car). Though there's an e-motor under the boot floor, it doesn't take up much space and because of the particularly compact torsion beam rear axle suspension arrangement, there's a massive 475-litres of boot space (75-litres more than the similarly-sized combustion Kamiq) and 5-litres more than the supposedly larger Elroq EV. With everything folded, there's up to 1,344-litres of room. Plus you get a 25-litre under-bonnet 'frunk' compartment.
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Market and model
Pricing here starts from around £25,000, which gets you the base Epiq 'SE L' 40 with the smaller 37kWh battery. There's quite a substantial price hike to get the same 'SE L' model with the larger 52kWh '55'-spec battery - £2,750 more.
It's also a £2,750 premium to graduate up to plusher 'edition' trim with either battery. And, if you're happy to pay around £31,500 for your Epiq, there's a top 'First Edition' version, offered only with the larger '55' battery.
Fortunately, with all variants there's a pretty decent level of standard spec. Even 'SE L'-spec gets you 18-inch 'Plover' alloy wheels, LED headlights with LED tail lamps, rear parking sensors, adaptive cruise control, a 5-inch digital cockpit instrument display and a 13-inch infotainment screen with Skoda's 'Wireless Smartlink' set-up for 'Apple CarPlay' and 'Android Auto.
Move up to 'Edition' spec and you get smarter 18-inch 'Saola' alloy wheels, power-folding, auto-dimming door mirrors, a rear-view camera with front parking sensors, a Drive mode select set-up, keyless entry with a digital key, Bi-directional charging capabilities and Skoda's semi-autonomous 'Travel Assist Plus' system. Inside at 'edition' level, there's satellite navigation, heated front seats, a heated two-spoke steering wheel, two-zone climate control, wireless 'phone charging with active cooling and tow bar preparation.
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Cost of ownership
Let's start with DC charging speeds. Both variants charge from 10-80% in under 25 minutes, but the DC speeds are a bit disappointing, rated at just 90kW for the 37kWh pack and a very unexceptional 105kW for the 52kWh battery (which is strange because this pack DC-charges at up to 130kW in the mechanically-identical CUPRA Raval).
Home AC charging from a single phase 7.4kw wallbox takes around 6 hours with the smaller battery and about 8 hours 30 minutes with the larger one - that's for a full charge. With the 37kWh Epiq 40, you can reduce your full charge time down to about 4 hours if you're able to AC charge using a three-phase 11kW wallbox. With that 11kW AC wallbox, the full charging time for a 52kWh Epiq 55 would be about 5 hours 30 minutes. As usual, charging can be controlled via the centre screen or by using the company's smartphone app. Avoid base trim and your Epiq will support bidirectional charging, enabling the energy stored in the battery to be used externally or, depending on infrastructure, supplied to a household or the grid.
The Czech maker says that its aim is to make sure that the battery pack lasts as long as the car and, sure enough, that battery pack is warrantied to have at least 70% of its usable capacity after eight years or 100,000 miles.
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Summary
The Epiq doesn't major on being a crossover. Just on being a very complete small electric hatch. Yes, you could have basically the same thing badged as a Volkswagen ID.Cross. But then you'd have to do without most of the Czech brand's extra 'Simply Clever' features that'll make day-to-the living jus that little bit easier.
The issues here are the same as those of the other VW Group MEB+ platform models we've reviewed; EV range isn't amazing. And the DC charging speeds are a bit disappointing. But otherwise, there's a lot to like here. So much in fact that we find it difficult to advance an argument for paying more for the brand's only slightly larger Elroq EV.
But that's Skoda's problem. And perhaps, with two such competitive models in the EV compact hatch segment, it's a nice one to have.
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