Electromobility / history

Electromobility Took Off Fast

What did the carmaker's transformation into one of the key manufacturers of electrified cars look like? It only took a few years.

The carmaker presented the Citigoe iV city electric car in 2019.

Škoda Auto had experimented with electromobility several times in the past, but it only started to take it seriously in 2011. Engineers then built 10 Octavia

Green E Line cars, which could travel up to 150 kilometres on a single charge and were tested in everyday operation to see how the new drive handled daily driving. These experiences were later reflected in concepts that hinted at what a car designed from scratch for electric driving could look like. The first was the Vision E in 2017, which featured a drive with two electric motors or elements of autonomous driving. Two years later, the Vision iV study was presented, already close to the production Enyaq, which even took over its illuminated Crystal Face grille.

In 2019, the carmaker presented its first series-produced electrified models: the Citigoe iV city electric car and the Superb iV plug-in hybrid, which combines a combustion engine with an electric motor and can be charged from a socket. The same year, the plant in Mladá Boleslav began producing batteries for this car.

The Vision iV study was already very close in appearance to the Enyaq model.

2020 was a turning point. The Enyaq, then still carrying the iV designation, became the brand's first model developed as an electric car from the very beginning. In November, its production started in Mladá Boleslav, on the same line as cars with combustion engines. Within the VW Group, this was a unique solution that allows flexible responses to demand. Since 2022, battery systems for cars such as the Enyaq have also been produced there. The change also affected people: by spring 2023, more than 23,000 employees had expanded their qualifications for electromobility.

The real boom came with the Elroq. The compact SUV drove out of a light cube in the centre of Prague at its premiere in October 2024, and the hundred-thousandth unit rolled off the line less than a year after production began. In 2025, the carmaker delivered 174,900 purely electric cars, more than double the previous year's figure. Every fourth Škoda car sold in Europe could already be charged from a socket.

2026 then brought two new additions. The Epiq, the brand's most affordable electric car, is made in Pamplona, Spain. The seven-seat flagship Peaq has been rolling off the line in Mladá Boleslav since August, the same line that also produces the Elroq, Enyaq and Octavia.