The world of the electric hot hatch is – well, heating up! 

The Alpine A290 was one of the first to the market. Based on the already popular and beloved Renault 5 E-Tech, it backed up great design with bespoke underpinnings and was quick to become the EV hot hatch benchmark. 

But with the VW Polo GTI and Cupra Raval VZ both revealed in recent weeks, the game is on to be crowned the king of the electric hot hatches.

Volkswagen ID.Polo GTI

Price: £31,000 (est)

WLTP range: 263 miles (424km)

Battery size (usable): 52kWh

Max charging rate: 105kW

0–62mph: 6.8 seconds

Boot capacity: 441 litres

The Polo GTI is the new kid on the block and aims to take the fight directly to Alpine. It’s a strong competitor too, but it’s not without its trade-offs.

Considering we expect the base Polo to start from as low as £22,000, we expect the GTI to have the clear lead on price. Cupra’s VZ trim pushes the Raval up to £36,310, so we expect the Polo to come in some ways below that. 

We also expect the Polo GTI to win out over the Alpine A290 which, at the time of writing, starts at £34,235 for the GTS+ trim that competes with the Polo and Raval on performance.

The range of the Polo GTI is top-tier as well. It’s a much more efficient car than the Alpine with a WLTP range of 263 miles and hence a theoretical efficiency rating of 5.1 miles/kWh. 

The Polo also has the A290 beat on interior space and practicality. Its slightly longer packaging means that it gets superior rear seat room as well as a much larger boot. Meanwhile, the Alpine focuses much more on being as light as possible, a tall order for any EV, but it beats both rivals by over 100kg.

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Cupra Raval VZ

Price: ​£36,310

WLTP range: 236 miles (380km)

Battery size (usable): 52kWh

Max charging rate: 105kW

0–62mph: 6.8 seconds

Boot capacity: 441 litres

The Cupra Raval shares the same MEB+ platform as the ID.Polo GTI, albeit with much more aggressive, and triangular, styling. Styling is certainly the clearest differentiating factor between the Cupra and the VW. That isn’t to say that the Polo is tame looking, but the Cupra looks much racier. Either that, or the Polo is more mature… We’ll leave that decision to you.

The Cupra places joint last with the Alpine A290 as range goes, its 52kWh LFP battery is identical to that found in the Polo and yet it only gets 236 miles of WLTP range on a single charge. That’s identical to the A290, funnily enough. It does however have the edge over the A290 on charging speeds, hitting rates 5kW higher than that car and getting from 10–80% in six minutes less in ideal conditions.

Besides styling and cost, the Polo and the Raval are more or less the same on paper. Interior space, performance and charging speeds are identical but they’re targeting different audiences both with styling and price.

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​Alpine A290 GTS​

Price: from £34,235

WLTP range: 236 miles (380km)

Battery size (usable): 52kWh

Max charging rate: 100kW

0–62mph: 6.4 seconds

Boot capacity: 329 litres

The A290 is definitely the smallest of the three which has both its benefits and its drawbacks. Its diminutive proportions should make it that little bit easier to manoeuvre and park around tight city streets and should also make it a little nimbler through corners.

However, that is at the loss of both rear seat room and boot space. Both the Cupra and the VW have it beat in both departments as both boots have 112 litres more space to play with when the rear seats are in place.

The A290 also falls short on range. Despite being lighter than the Cupra and VW, the A290 only manages 236 miles on a single charge of its 52kWh battery which is also the same size as the Polo GTI and Raval VZ. Perhaps being on a slightly older platform has made it suffer in the efficiency department.

Thankfully, the A290 still has performance on its side. In its GTS guise, the A290 packs 220hp, the lowest figure of the bunch, but it still sprints to 62mph in just 6.4 seconds – that’s nearly half a second quicker than either of its two competitors.

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So which one should you buy?

Well, it’s a tough decision to make, which is a good thing! If you’re judging by price alone, the ID.Polo GTI should be the easy winner. It blends the performance of the Raval VZ with the more accessible barrier for entry of the standard ID.Polo. The specs are almost identical to the Raval’s too, so the real differences will be in the smaller details, like interior touches and standard quality of life features.

For outright performance, the crown has to go to the Alpine A290, its focus on lightness has granted it the strongest performance stats of the three and that smaller size should make it that little bit more fun to throw around on a back road. It suffers in practicality terms but if you’re using it as a runabout with the occasional trip to your favourite B-road, the Alpine is the one for you.

The Cupra Raval might seem like a bit of a loser by comparison but it’s still a strong proposition from VAG. The styling and interior touches go a long way towards making the Raval feel both sportier and more premium than its VW sibling. Yes, the price reflects that but when you compare it to the A290 instead of the Polo, a £2,000 price increase doesn’t seem so bad for the increased space and range you get.

So, the right car for you depends on where you place your priorities, speed, style, or just outright value for money. Personally, I’d go for the ID.Polo GTI. But until we’ve driven it, it’ll be tough to say for sure. Which would you go for? Let us know in the comments of our new ID.Polo GTI video on YouTube.​

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