Meet ev'ie. It really is ev'ie too, because stuffed inside this cute French city car's shell is an electric motor and a big battery pack - making it the UK's first production four-seat all-electric car.
And that means there'll be a big weight of expectation on the ev'ie (they just keep coming) because its maker, the Electric Car Company (ECC), is indulging in some bold claims for a car that nobody's actually driven yet - despite going on sale today (April 30). But for now, let's leave cynicism behind and bask in the electric glow of a car that might, just might, kick-start this whole electric car thing the Government keeps harping on about.
So, because it's based in a Citroen C1 it doesn't look
completely ridiculous, which is a good start, and it also has four useable seats. Then there's the fact it can be plugged into a 13-amp household socket and charged fully in about seven hours, which renders it good for 60-70 miles and a top speed of 60mph. ECC claims charging it will cost 90p to 'fill up', but that in all other respects the ev'ie will serve up a completely normal driving experience. Apart from being silent, obviously, and that whole 'no CO
2' thing.
Available from today, the ev'ie costs £16,850 - a good £75,000 less than a
Tesla Roadster - and can be ordered straight from ECC via
www.eccplc.com. Buy one and you'll be supporting British industry at a significant time too, because the ev'ie's C1 donor car is stripped and converted in the UK, creating much-needed jobs. ECC reckons it'll shift 500 of these this year before ramping production up to between 2,000 and 4,000 by 2010 if demand is high enough.
No doubt we'll get to drive one very soon, and when we do we'll let you know whether it's a positive or negative move towards our green car utopia. We predict the former.
Mark Nichol - 30 Apr 2009