Ford Kuga Hybrid Range | Electrifying

Ford Kuga PHEV Review

Electrifying.com score

9/10

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It’s not perfect, but the Kuga is one of the best of the Hybrid bunch at the moment. 


  • Battery size: 14.4 kWh
  • Company car tax: 11%
  • Emissions: 32 g/km
  • Range: 35 miles
  • Fuel economy: 257 MPG
  • Battery size: 14.4 kWh
  • Company car tax: 11%
  • Emissions: 32 g/km
  • Range: 35 miles
  • Fuel economy: 257 MPG
  • Ford Kuga ST Line X Eco Blue PHEV
  • Ford Kuga ST Line X Eco Blue PHEV4
  • Ford Kuga ST Line X Eco Blue PHEV
  • Ford Kuga ST Line X Eco Blue PHEV
  • Ford Kuga ST Line X Eco Blue PHEV
  • Ford Kuga ST Line X Eco Blue PHEV

Tom Says

“A mid-sized SUV plug-in that actually manages most of its potential 35-mile e-range. Five seats, a decent boot - blah, blah. But the Kuga looks great on the road and actually handles really nicely. A sweet do-it-all car, and a points winner for Ford.”

Nicki Says

“The Kuga drives so much better than most PHEVs, but the most interesting benefit for me is that it's actually cheaper (and more powerful) than the 2-litre diesel Kuga. Add in the realistic range and efficient engine and I think it's a winner.”


The Kuga packs a relatively large 14.4 kWh battery pack, giving a theoretical EV-only range of up to about 35 miles. It seems to get pretty close to it too.

  • Range:35 miles (electric only)
  • Battery:14.4 kWh
  • Domestic socket:7 hours
  • Home/Public charger (7kW):3.5 hours
  • Fast charging 0-80% (50kW):N/A
Ford Kuga ST Line X Eco Blue PHEV
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Range

If you start off your journey with a full battery, the Kuga has EV-only range of up to about 35 miles. That’s not much by the standards of a full-on battery EV but will be plenty to get the average commuter to work and back without having to use any fuel. As the car will do up to 85 mph on battery power, you really won’t have to use the petrol engine at all on most journeys if you have charge. 

We know what you’re thinking though – those official figures are as fictional as a Harry Potter plot. But the Kuga really does seem to get close to them in our experience, which is not something you can say about every PHEV. 

Battery

At the time of writing, Ford was having a few issues with the Kuga PHEV’s battery and had temporarily stopped sales and told existing owners to stop charging them. The reason given is that four fires have been caused by the batteries overheating. This is clearly not a great advertisement for the battery technology but we’re guessing Ford’s boffins have found a fix as it’s only cars built before July 2020 which are affected. 

Once this fiery fault is forgotten the battery is actually pretty impressive, with a decent amount of capacity for a car like this – both the Mitsubishi Outlander and Vauxhall Grandland X have smaller packs. 

Charging

The key to cars like the Kuga PHEV making financial sense is to plug them in of course. The Kuga’s charge port is on the passenger side front wing and can connect to either a wallbox or a three-pin plug. The former is the fastest, although the Ford can only accept power at 3.6kW rather than the faster 7kW supplied by most dedicated domestic chargers. A full charge takes around three and half hours. 

Plug it in using a standard three-pin socket and the Kuga will take seven hours to charge fully, which will still be fine if you are topping up the battery overnight at home or during the day in an office car park while you are working.

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