Cupra Born: How It Simplifies Charging with Plug & Charge

The Plug & Charge feature of the Cupra Born will be activated mid-year, via a software update.

Cupra announced that the Born will soon have the “Plug & Charge” functionality. With this, simply plugging the vehicle into a compatible charging station will start the charging process. No need to take out your phone or subscription card anymore. The billing process is also automated. Vehicle identification is done via an encrypted standard, which protects user data.

The feature will be activated on the Cupra Born in the middle of the year, following a software update for the car. It will notably work on stations from the IONITY, Aral/bp, E.ON, and Iberdrola networks. The Volkswagen Group assures that other networks will be compatible later on, without specifying the operators involved.

Plug & Charge: on the Cupra Born and other VW Group models

The Cupra Born will not be the only Volkswagen Group vehicle to benefit from this feature. The German giant has committed to deploying it simultaneously on “all electric cars of the volume brands of the Group, built on the MEB platform”. Very similar to the Cupra Born, the ID.3 will probably be affected. Other Volkswagen ID models and the Skoda Enyaq also meet the MEB platform criteria and belong to high-volume brands.

The future Cupra Tavascan, which will also use the MEB platform, should logically feature this functionality as well. Foreseen by a concept in 2019, this fully electric SUV is expected to arrive on the market in 2024.

A feature already offered elsewhere

The Plug & Charge solution has been available for several months on the Porsche Taycan, Ford Mach-E, and Mercedes EQS. Tesla customers also benefit from a similar feature, and have for years.

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