Owners of Cupra Born electric cars who responded to a battery service campaign have been left without their cars after the manufacturer ran out of the material that’s required to seal their battery cases.
Cupra issued the bulletin in July last year in response to concerns about the condition of batteries fitted to Borns.
Having opened the cases and checked the components, workshop staff have been unable to reseal them, owing to a shortage of the specified thermal paste, which is made in Germany.
This has resulted in dozens of cars being stranded at Cupra dealerships awaiting completion of the remedial work, and other Volkswagen Group cars could potentially be affected. Jerry Hawkins, who lives in Cornwall, is one of the owners affected by the delays.
“I bought my Born new in September 2022 and received the campaign notice last October,” he said. “I took the car to my dealer, who discovered there were issues with the battery modules.
“They said they lacked suitably qualified technicians to complete the work so sent my car to a main battery centre in Southampton for it to be done.
“However, after this garage replaced the modules, they told me supplies of the paste that’s required to seal the battery case had run out and they didn’t know when more would arrive. They couldn’t use another product, they said, without invalidating the warranty.
“As a result, since October I’ve been in a succession of courtesy cars provided first by my dealer and currently by the VW Group.” Also affected has been EV Experts, an independent dealer based in Guildford.
Co-founder Estelle Miller told Autocar that one of its Born stock vehicles, also recalled as part of the service campaign, had only just returned from repairs after being stranded for seven weeks awaiting battery case sealant.
“The workshop told me it had 16 other Borns awaiting sealant, so I guess I should feel lucky we got ours back,” she said.
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