Stellantis continues its EV onslaught in Europe: for the first time in its 32-year-long history, the Opel Astra will ship without an internal combustion engine on that market.
If you are getting a déjà vu from the images below, that’s because the next-gen Astra EV is a complete twin of the Peugeot E-308. Like its French sibling, it utilizes an older ICE car platform and therefore looks almost identical to its gasoline and diesel counterparts. As usual, customers will be able to choose between hatchback and station wagon bodies.
The silent and eco-friendly new Astra comes equipped with a single electric motor driving the front axle with 156 PS (154 hp / 115 kW) and 270 Nm (199 lb-ft) of torque. Once fully charged, its WLTP-rated driving range will amount to 400 kilometers, or 248 miles. The traction battery is rated at 54 kilowatt-hours, and out of these, 51 kWh are its actual useful capacity. Half an hour of standing plugged into a sufficiently powerful charging terminal replenishes the charge to 80%.
On an interesting side note, both the wagon and the hatchback are rated at 170 km/h (105 mph), which is a fair bit higher than most EVs get in Europe. A more typical top speed would be between 150 and 160 km/h (93–99 mph).
The all-electric Astra is scheduled to reach the showrooms in Europe next spring, complementing the GSe as a second top spec.