Peugeot’s new electric 308 claims a range of 400km

Peugeot’s all-electric version of its new 308 hatchback and estate will have a range of “more than 400km” in spite of having a battery that’s smaller than most of the competition.

We had been expecting that Peugeot would carry over the 50kWh battery from the e-208 and e-2008, which would probably have given the larger 308 a range of around 320km, assuming that it used the same 136hp (100kW) electric motor.

But no - Peugeot is saying that the e-308, which will go on sale next year, will have more range and more power. In fact, the e-308 will get a 156hp electric motor (114kW) and will have a range of around 400km, making it competitive with the likes of the 58kWh battery version of the VW ID.3 and the new 60kWh battery Renault Megane E-Tech.

That’s in spite of the Peugeot having a smaller battery than either. The e-308 will come with a 54kWh (gross capacity) battery, which will give the driver access to around 50kWh of actual useable charge (the remaining 4kWh is there to act as a buffer against battery degradation).

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So how is the C-segment e-308 able to top 400km when the smaller, B-segment e-208 can only manage 350km on roughly the same size of battery? Well, that’s in part because the 50kWh battery in the e-208 is the gross battery capacity - its actual useable capacity is closer to 45kWh, so the e-308 is 5kWh up on that. Beyond that, though, Peugeot is claiming that the e-308’s battery is a newer, higher-tech unit, which benefits from a number of improvements compared to the e-208 and e-2008.

For a start, the battery’s chemical makeup is slightly different, in that it uses more nickel and less magnesium and cobalt. On top of that, there’s now a heat-pump system, which means that warming up the cabin on a chilly day will drain the battery far less.

Finally, the e-308 has one major advantage - it’s quite light, tipping the scales at 1,600kg. That’s hardly featherweight, to be sure, but it’s 100kg less than the ID.3 and only about 70kg more than the e-208. Along with the similarly lightweight Renault Megane E-Tech, the e-308 is one of the first EVs that’s clearly been to Unislim.

The battery will get the same 100kW maximum charging speed as the e-208, which means you’ll be able to top up to 80 per cent capacity from a fast-charger in around 30-minutes.

"As consumers, we're all on a journey from being all internal combustion engine to eventually all fully electrified. And Peugeot has a real benefit in its multi-energy platform strategy. I think that's the right way to assist our customers, and help them move along on this journey," said Peugeot boss Linda Jackson.

The confirmation of specs for the electric e-308 means that there will be two other new hatchback models with similar electric performance coming in 2023 - the new Opel Astra-e (which, like the 308, will launch this year with conventional petrol and plug-in hybrid engines) and the luxurious DS 4 (which ditto).