This is the Dacia Spring, the first all-electric vehicle from the Renault-owned brand and a car we’re promised will be “the most affordable electric vehicle in Europe”. Awesome.
Not awesome if you live in the UK though because Dacia has no plans to sell it here. Boo.
This all seems a bit pointless now, but we’ve started so we’ll finish. Also there’s always the chance that Renault will change its mind and let us have a model that will definitely be the cheapest zero emissions car bar none, undercutting stuff like the MINI Electric and the Volkswagen e-Up.
First shown in March this year as a concept, technically, this is the first time we’ve seen the production version, which you’ll see has the “functional” feel of the rest of the Dacia range. Its proportions are deceptive on paper because though this looks like a family crossover type car (a Qashqai, say), Dacia is calling it the company’s first city car.
At 3.7m long it’s shorter than a three-door MINI hatchback but because it’s tall and has a relatively long wheelbase it offers a decent amount of space for four and a 300-litre boot, rising to 600 with the rear seats folded. “The Spring is a revolution: as the lowest-priced electric city car on the European market, it makes electric mobility even more accessible. With its disruptive SUV design, it boasts a spacious cabin, a simple and reliable electric engine and a reassuring driving range. It is a versatile and practical city car,” says a Dacia press release.
The goes on sale in Europe at the start of next year and with a price likely to be well under £20,000. There’ll be a panel van version too, intriguingly, and a version made specifically to adhere to car sharing schemes in Europe.
The drivetrain, then. It’s teensy. And very possibly the reason why Dacia isn’t bringing the Spring to the UK. And almost certainly why it’s so cheap. It’s a 26.8kWh battery powering a 44bhp – yep, that’s 44bhp – motor. And if you stick the car in Eco mode, which will improve the range by around 10%, power drops to 31bhp. The battery range is officially rated at 140 miles and its top speed is 78mph, reduced to 62mph in Eco mode.
It has various charging options, the fastest being a 30kW DC terminal, which will get the battery to around 80% in just under an hour. At a 7kW wall box (the sort you can have fitted at your house) it’ll get from zero to 100% in around five hours, and using a household three-pin plug (in UK terms) it’ll take less than 14 hours to get to full.
It’s actually quite well equipped in safety terms too, coming as standard with six airbags, automatic headlamps and emergency city braking. All cars get LED daytime running lights too and nobody will notice that you’re rocking a set of steelies because the wheel trims “imitate alloy wheels”.
If you live in the UK and you’d like to buy one of these, get on the email to Dacia and make a song and dance about it.
Keyword: Dacia goes electric with all-new Spring compact SUV