We’re doing electric cars all wrong. Instead of big, big, heavy beasts with or without 200+ mile range and all the bells and whistles to satisfy petrolheads, we should be thinking about making it smaller, lighter and slower.
Before you get completely angry, keep this in mind; I’m talking about cars for cities. If you live outside the city, by all means have a large electric car (if you have a large electricity budget). But I’m not convinced that most people who talk all the time about range anxiety and not being able to get from Penzance to Cambridge without struggling to find a charger really want to drive all that way. This idea The thing that makes them all angry is not being able to do this.
I just want something for commuting, wandering around the shops and getting in and out of the city center (yes, I live in London). So I’ve been using the same tiny, tinny electric vehicle for the last 15 years (read about it here).
The reality for anyone living in a residential area is that distances traveled are quite small and the speed limit is probably 30 mph or, increasingly, 20 mph, so there is a new (or renewed, for us early adopters) interest in this area. smaller end of the market. With a six-week wait from ordering the Citroen Ami, there is a real demand for people who do this type of work.
I had heard and read about the vehicle – mainly in the Telegraph – but I first saw them last winter, wandering the tarmac at Funchal airport in Madeira. Staff used the small vehicle to move between planes; and they had solar panels on their roofs – immaculate. All good and well away from other traffic with almost no range required… but what about in real life?
I left my antique electric GWiz parked for a week to see how the next-gen version would fit into my life. One day soon I will have to give up my beloved “skating boots” because they are slowly falling apart. Call me Pollyanna but it’s been a great method of transportation for all these years so I have no complaints, it’s made me proud.
When I wrote about how I used it to transport my children, I received comments saying I was not the type of mother to risk them by driving such a flimsy vehicle. But still we are here, still alive and healthy. I’ve never had a serious crash; I know what the effect will be and I drive accordingly; It’s an approach most of us could do with, regardless of the size and weight of our car.
I’ve seen the Citroen Ami described as an “ultra-compact city car” and let’s face it, it’s sexier than an “electric quadricycle” (that’s the real description). I’ve never been proud of cars, but it takes some getting used to. You’ll notice from these photos that it’s an interesting cube (2.4m long, 1.4m wide and 1.5m high) and looks the same from either side and either side. Unlike my GWiz, which aims to emulate real cars with upholstered seats, a rear-view mirror and a modest “trunk” (where the engine is usually located), the Ami revels in its utilitarianism. It’s more like being inside a Lego brick; all with hard surfaces and odd plastic “storage solutions”.
This makes it a driving experience that takes some getting used to. I sit in the middle of the cube, equidistant from front and rear, so the windshield is out of reach (and there’s no rearview mirror). The fact that the driver’s seat is on the left and the single passenger seat is on the right and slightly in the back gives me a strong Uber driver vibe. Maybe this could be useful if there is a new demand for solo taxi lifts?
The driver’s door was called the suicide door in the bad old days because it’s hinged backwards. A budget-friendly feature on the Ami is that both outlets are hinged to the right (if a part is damaged, there’s only one version to replace, which keeps costs down). I’m quickly getting used to being extra careful when opening the door!
Due to the lack of a rear-view mirror (apparently deemed unnecessary due to the Ami’s small size) I rely heavily on door-mounted ones, but these are tiny, smaller than my vanity compact. This means I’m on high alert the entire time I’m driving, but maybe that’s not a bad thing (we all know distracted drivers can be deadly). actually there like that Unless you configure Ami with plug-ins that can play music, it won’t distract you. There’s no dash-mounted touchscreen, the professional laptop size you get in the latest cars.
As my husband and I walked around we found ourselves reaching for our sunglasses, there is so much window glass. The almost completely transparent roof can make it very dazzling if the sun hits it right, making the digital speedometer difficult to read; otherwise this is clear and useful (every electric vehicle driver knows to pay attention to the amount of battery charge remaining).
But to focus on the battery for a moment, with 45 miles of range and downtown speed limits, I can drive for days without any “range anxiety.” It’s a nimble little creature, of course, so it’s sometimes worryingly easy to hit 20mph, but I still have to commute for almost a week and pop into shops before I can find a socket on the street.
Even if I was in a town like Wiltshire where my sister lives, I could drive to the retail park miles away and come back loaded without any stress, and I’d have a driveway to park at home. and charge. It’s worth considering.
Another reason to get along with this off-roading pile is my friends on the road. Thanks to the pan-European riding position, I’m a little closer to the pavement so I’m more aware of cyclists, and thanks to the Ami’s small size, I can give them plenty of space without veering into oncoming traffic.
The idea of giving lycra-clad warriors a place on two wheels may have you gnashing your teeth, but in any city center we should all get along and proceed without incident if possible. At least I don’t want to touch anything because that would ruin those nasty side mirrors and repositioning them would mean flipping up the analog lenses, which are themselves a bit flimsy. These are a nod to the inspiration for the famously quirky Citroen 2CV.
Am I allowed to be picky about driving something that will do for a £500 annual outlay (excluding insurance and servicing) if it has as long a lifespan as my GWiz? If so, little details like the indicator not turning off when you complete a turn are driving me a little crazy. And while I love the neon yellow nylon pull tags used to open doors, they require a good tug. I’m used to keeping everything I don’t want stolen in secret storage; The Ami doesn’t have this feature, but there’s certainly plenty of room for shopping in the passenger-side footwell; It easily handled my weekly shopping.
As a long-time veteran of driving a vehicle that is largely viewed as a matter of curiosity, even irritation, I’m used to finger pointing, outright laughter and the occasional request for more information about “that thing you’re driving”, although I still find it relatively rare in our cities I didn’t get any of that on Ami.
In an age of countless e-scooters, canopy motorcycles, three-wheeled open cars and God knows what else, isn’t this battery-powered bug so remarkable? I hope. I’m definitely thinking of Ami, as soon as possible. This is true for me as long as I’m a city dweller. Maybe you too? My daughter, who is now an adult, needs to learn to drive and I think this is a perfect solution for transportation that is economical in every way; No parking panic when it turns into a sixpence and fits sideways into any bay.
As Citroen puts it in its Ami marketing brief: “Just as the original 2CV brought action to the masses of the past, the Ami brings electric mobility to the masses of today.” Even if it’s the talk of urban EV enthusiasts, the masses may be stretching it a bit.
I’d love nothing more than to live in a nearly silent city where small vehicles cruise politely, sharing parking spaces and charging points. But I suspect human nature won’t get everyone on board yet.