► Electric Peugeot 208 driven
► A ‘normal’ electric car
► It’s good, but is that still enough?
The Peugeot e-208 is an electric car that will allow you to blend in. That many new EVs are given bespoke designs to help them stand out on the road is ironic, given their near-silent powertrains make them naturally stealthy. A bank robber could never fade into the background in with a futuristic Hyundai Ioniq 5 or sleek-looking Volkswagen ID.3 as a getaway car, but they might have more luck with this electric Peugeot.
You see, the e-208 is deliberately as normal as possible. Just like its petrol and diesel siblings it’s simply a part of the Peugeot 208 line-up, and you buy the EV version as an engine variant rather than as a model in its own right.
It even boasts the same handsome design as its combustion-engined siblings, and you’d need a keen eye to tell them apart in the metal. Though the e-208’s signature bright yellow paint option and the green flashes you get on UK EV number plates certainly help, but pick a plainer colour and it becomes merely attractive rather than conversation starting.
So while these electric 208s also get an ‘e’ symbol on the flank, a colour-shifting bonnet badge and body-coloured grille inserts, there’s nothing that screams ‘I am a zero-emissions vehicle!’ as it glides by.
Peugeot e-208 driving range info
The Peugeot e-208 features a 50kWh battery mounted under the floor, which means interior passenger space and boot volume (bigger than the Ford Fiesta’s but less than the Renault Clio at 311 litres) are identical to that offered in petrol and diesel models. A front-mounted, 100kW electric motor (that’s 134bhp in old lingo) provides the drive.
The official driving range of the Peugeot e-208 has increased to up 225 miles WLTP following an update in 2022 – a mild gain over the original 217-mile figure. In reality we’ve found you’ll struggle to top 150 miles in regular, which is more of a madras problem than a korma.
There’s a further update planned for 2023, when the e-208 will benefit from the same EV technology fitted to the new Peugeot e-308. This is set to see driving range go up 10.5 percent to 248 miles WLTP and power output jump 15 per cent to 115kW / 154bhp.
Peugeot e-208 charging times
Charging on a single-phase AC wallbox of the kind you might have installed at home takes 7.5 hours. The e-208 can handle 100kW DC rapid charging, however, which loads six miles into the pack every minute and can provide an 80 per cent charge in 30 minutes. But for that you’ll have to visit the increasingly expensive public charging network.
Peugeot e-208 pricing and specification
As of September 2022, the e-208 price list kicks off at £30,195 for the Active Premium model, and standard kit includes 16-inch alloys, a seven-inch touchscreen with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, plus a basic automated emergency braking system.
The mid-range Allure Premium from £31,495 is probably the one to go for, adding the beautiful 3D digital instrument panel for drivers, and a colour reversing camera.
Aesthetes will prefer the £33,445 e-208 GT, bringing a 10.0-inch central touchscreen with connected navigation, upgraded emergency braking which works in the dark and can spot pedestrians and cyclists, plus black door mirror caps and wheelarches.
GT Premium is the top-of-the-range spec, adding adaptive cruise control with stop-go functionality, plus Alcantara and cloth seat trims inside. This costs from £34,345.
Sadly, the UK Plug-in Car Grant, which used to provide a discount on electric vehicles, has been scrapped.
What’s interior of e-208 like?
Familiar, with a modest twist. For instance, there’s a curved transmission selector which you pull back for reverse, neutral or e-drive, and pull again to alter the regenerative braking feel.
Like the standard 208, the steering wheel in this electric Peugeot is the size of a cotton reel. And despite its tiny stature, this can obscure the fancy 3D instrument binnacle with its varied depth and staggering layers of information. You can solve this by dropping the seat low and dumping the wheel in your lap, but this driving position won’t suite everybody.
Still, it’s a high-quality environment, with a gloss black centre console, wireless charging pad behind a rotating flap that snaps shut with the crispness of a guardsman’s salute, and a delightful carbon-effect layer that twists its way across the dashboard.
What’s the Peugeot e-208 like to drive?
If you haven’t driven an electric car before, here hatchback normality makes way for a completely ethereal experience.
Press the throttle and the e-208 accelerates briskly for its kind (though glacially compared with the warp speed thrust of a pricier electric cars such as the Tesla Model 3 or Jaguar i-Pace). In Sport mode, the electric Peugeot does 0-62mph in 8.1sec – half a second quicker than the punchiest 127bhp petrol version.
The motor’s operating window limits top speed to 93mph, however.
It’s all so serene, given the absence of combustion chatter and tyre rumble is so well suppressed. The pillow-soft ride on 16-inch wheels intensifies this feeling of wellbeing, though the squishiness of the suspension can send you rocking and rolling like a Liam Gallagher tour.
There’s plenty of grip in corners, but the steering feels a little too light and at times inconsistently weighted as you push through a turn, something the small steering wheel only emphasises. This does also help it feel direct and sporty, though.
Regenerating energy
Brakes are always a tricky element to integrate in an electric car, with that blend from the initial deceleration caused by the motor switching to energy capture mode and the deployment of the good old-fashioned friction pads. The e-208 tries to solve this problem by offering two levels of regenerative braking: imperceptible and barely perceptible.
Lift off the accelerator, and the Peugeot gently slows, as if coasting in a combustion car. In the more assertive setting, deceleration is slightly more pronounced, as is the whine of the motor. But if these braking modes were graded as cheese, they would be mozzarella and Edam.
Unlike the stilton of the Nissan Leaf’s one-pedal action, which can respond to lift-off with the instant stopping power of smashing into a brick wall. The e-208’s brake pedal feels pretty baggy and buzzy too; it’s clearly an area for fine-tuning in future.
Anything else we should know?
Peugeot backs its battery pack with an eight-year, 100,000-mile warranty, and will also certify its capacity when you come to sell the car as part of an effort to give used EV buyers peace of mind. There’s also an app that helps you remotely control charging, pre-heat (or cool) the car or check its current available driving range.
Such features are a normal part of the electric driver’s life, so there’s nothing particularly radical about that. But it’s worth noting when the Peugeot e-208 is a conspicuously normal supermini otherwise. It doesn’t stand out like the retro-futuristic Honda E, or wear its volts on its sleeve like the heavily yellow-accented Mini Electric – two key rivals we’ve compared the e-208 to directly in a CAR Giant Test.
More concerning for Peugeot, however, has got to be the performance and value of newcomers such as the MG 4 EV, which comes with a similar price tag but includes a 201bhp electric drivetrain and a 281-mile claimed driving range.
Peugeot e-208 verdict
Being a normal-looking electric car is no longer the distinct selling point it might have been at launch – the Peugeot’s sister car, the Vauxhall Corsa-e takes largely the same approach, and we’re far enough down the road towards electrification now that people are no longer automatically alarmed or enthused by an outlandish appearance if they’re aiming to go zero emissions.
So instead, the e-208 now stands on its rounded blend of ability, interior quality, general attractiveness and value in order to make an impression. And to our eyes at least, it still makes a reasonably good one – something those upgrades coming in 2023 will help further. But for the money this car costs there are now more capable EV solutions.