Cupra Raval’s 280-mile range revealed as battery plant opens for business

Cupra’s Raval electric hatchback has taken a massive step towards production with the official opening of its battery assembly line in Barcelona, Spain.

The battery unit, a bolt-on to SEAT’s long-standing Martorell factory and HQ, can produce up to 300,000 battery packs a year, bound not only for the Raval but Volkswagen’s ID.Polo too. 

Cupra has revealed the power outputs and ranges for its two Raval launch models, with a choice of two motors packing in excess of 200bhp. The base Raval Dynamic, costing from around £20,000, will have a 208bhp e-motor spinning the front wheels, and is claimed to travel up to 280-miles between charges. The Dynamic Plus has the same output and range.

The launch flagship is the VZ Extreme, which boosts power to 223bhp but with a trade-off: max range dips to a still respectable 249-miles. 

Spain will be the Volkswagen Group’s production hub for its entire family of affordable EVs, across three brands and all based on the new MEB+ electric car chassis. The lithium-iron phosphate (LFP) battery packs will slot into the Martorell-built Raval and ID.Polo but also get shipped to the Navarra plant in northern Spain. This is where the Skoda Epiq baby SUV and its Volkswagen sister model – the ‘VW ID.T-Cross’ – will be bolted together.

What is the Cupra Raval?

Cupra is pitching its Raval as a sporty small electric hatch: it’s been shown as a concept car and we’ve driven a prototype too. Cupra will reveal the production car’s final design in March 2026, with UK deliveries set for the autumn. 

Named after one of Barcelona’s grungy nightlife quarters, the 4m-long five-door packs lowered sports suspension and direct steering. Expect this recipe to be shared with VW’s ID.Polo GTI too, if you fancy a more sober-looking warm electric hatch. 

It would appear that very few changes have been made to the pugnacious design of the Cupra Raval on its journey from concept to production. Distinctive features include a sharp nose and aggressive bumper, chiselled bonnet and large snowflake-like wheels that are finished in Cupra’s signature copper hue. There’s also a new take on the brand’s triangular headlight signature. 

8

New battery technology

The battery assembly line introduces two advances for the Volkswagen Group. Workers are bolting together lithium-iron phosphate – popularised by Chinese car maker BYD – cells, which are cheaper than the Nickel-Manganese-Cobalt (NMC) chemistries VW’s ID cars have used until now. 

The other advance is the battery’s ‘cell-to-pack’ design. This eliminates some of the framework previously holding cells in place, cutting weight and cost. This allows car makers to cram more cells into the pack to boost range, a critical factor for small cars with a relatively limited space between the wheels for stowing the battery.

The opening ceremony was led by SEAT-Cupra CEO Markus Haupt and the chairman of Volkswagen’s core brand group (VW, Skoda and SEAT) Thomas Schäfer. He noted that the battery centre had been green-lit four years ago; assembly took two years and cost €300-million. The 64,000m2 facility will assemble a battery every 45-seconds, for a maximum capacity of 1,200 systems per day and 300,000 over an entire year.

Making batteries is a very energy intensive process, moreso than making combustion engines, though EVs pay back their carbon debt with zero-emission running. SEAT hopes to mitigate 70 per cent of the energy for this part of the battery assembly process with 11,000 solar roof panels; fine in Barcelona, less so in Bolton. Water needs are partly met by a rain collection system with the capacity of three Olympic swimming pools: fine in Bolton, less so in Barcelona. 

“The inauguration of this battery system assembly plant is a turning point in the history of SEAT and Cupra,” said Markus Haupt, the Spanish division’s CEO. “We are ready to produce 100 per cent electric ‘made in Spain’ cars that will make electric mobility accessible across Europe.

“We are proud to be leading the ‘Electric Urban Car’ project for the Volkswagen Group and to produce two of the models that will change the rules of the electrification game – starting with the Cupra Raval,” he added.

The Martotell battery assembly line is part of a €10-billion investment in Spanish electrification from VW and its partners. Just under a third of that sum has been pumped into Martorell, transforming it into a flexible production hub that can manufacture electric, hybrid and combustion models. 

Martorell is VW’s third biggest European plant, churning out up to 600,000 cars a year, including the SEAT Ibiza and Arona as well as the Raval. That’s a quarter of Spain’s entire vehicle output.

Can’t wait for a Cupra Raval? Check out our tempting deals on a SEAT Ibiza...