If this was half the price, say £3,500, I'd probably get one. The price seems wildly out of line with what you get.
Also I wonder about modding - larger battery, a roof rack and a bright orange paint job to compensate for lack of safety features.
Also I wonder about modding - larger battery, a roof rack and a bright orange paint job to compensate for lack of safety features.
If your budget is £7k there are plenty of used options around that would involve sacrificing much less than this for about double the range (thinking early Leaf/Zoe/Ion).
It’s neat, but it reminds me of the Twizy. Just too many compromises to still make sense.
I think that might answer your question.
Also, you talk about sacrificing things. Which presumably means you consider the alternative to be a car. But this is much smaller than a car, and might appeal to people who don't own a car and don't want to.
A huge chunk of car journeys are done to move 1 person + limited cargo across less than 30km roundtrip. The sort of journeys that could be served by a e-bike or public transport, but absent infrastructure for both could at least be served by a small car.
The Zoe is a 33 000 € car brand new. Cars must start somewhere before a used market show up to cheapen them further. This one will be even cheaper down the road once it appears in the used market.
As for who uses it, I know plenty of people who own one to do things like small size deliveries, citroen sells a version of this car that doesn't have a passenger seat for the sake of more cargo capacity. It's a pretty nifty car to have as long as you mostly drive it within the city, where most streets don't allow you to go past 30 kilometer per hour. For city dwellers in Europe, it works plenty fine and better than cars that are too big for some of the parking spots you might have taken with a small one like the ami.
The Zoe has been around since 2012, although you're probably want a model from 2015 onwards. There's a big used car market for Zoes out there.
I get your point though, more modern EVs are only just coming onto the market now so it'll take a while for them to filter through.
The nimbleness and ease of charge (the thing comes with what's essentially a hoover charging cord) make it rather convenient for city dwellers or close suburbanites.
It's also much cheaper than license-free cars (Aixam, Chatenet, Ligier).
… from zero to full.
If you just want to top up the 30-40 miles that are driven in a day, then 10-12 hours overnight is fine with a regular plug.
People ask me all the time about how long it takes me to charge my tesla. I tell them that it’s a different mentality than ICE cars:
1. Instead of a cycle of low/empty —> full —> low/empty, it’s a cycle of use —> top up when not using —> use. For most people, a regular wall outlet is fine.
2. If a regular wall outlet is used as the main charging source, then a supercharger may need to be used after long trips to top up. If you have days when you don’t drive much or at all (e.g., if you work from home or have a short commute), then even this can be skipped since you will eventually get full.
3. For road trips, something people seem to think requires long wait times, aim to keep the battery in approximately the 20-60% charge range. This allows for two hour recurring range with a margin for error while maximizing battery charge speed at super chargers. Typical charging time will be the amount of time it takes to go to the bathroom and get something to drink plus maybe a short stretch if those things go very fast. For me personally, bathroom and drink of some sort at a nearby Starbucks (which are frequently near superchargers) is almost perfect timing.
4. The only genuinely sucky thing about EV charging is road trips during peak travel times, especially holidays. The current infrastructure doesn’t handle peak demand well, but I think that will be fixed over time.
Okay, but you probably live in a city in the US, where you don't really drive.
I live in Scotland, and I use my vehicle for work. I don't think I've done less than 100 miles any time I've put the keys in the ignition in years, and quite often I fill the tank a couple of times a day (dual-fuel LPG and petrol) or just burn the dirty stuff.
I don't really "get" what Teslas are for. I don't need something that can accelerate to 60mph faster than if it had been thrown off a cliff - I can't imagine why you'd ever need to accelerate to 60mph flat out - and I don't really have a use for something that'll get me to work and then need charged for three days. Also given that with the cost of electricity and the cost of propane the way it is, it's actually cheaper to drive a V8 Range Rover than a Telsa, I'm just not convinced.
In your particular use case, it would be prudent to have a faster charger installed at your home. It’s an additional expense, but your use case is not typical, so I don’t think that’s unreasonable. With a slightly faster charger, you can go from low to full overnight. I have a $20 adapter that can plug into my dryer outlet (which is next to my garage) for days I take long day trips.
The only folks I know who drive over 100 miles minimum every time they drive is folks with long commutes, salespeople, and folks who live in extremely rural areas.
For some of those folks, EVs may not be the right car for them. That’s ok — different people have different needs in vehicles.
The reasons I like my Tesla:
- I live in a relatively small beach town/city, so almost everyone drives. Some things are close. Others are not. 10 miles to the center of town.
- very low maintenance. Just tires, windshield wiper fluid, and air filter. Maybe brakes after 5-7 years (probably will not own it then).
- no gas stations while starting each day at full. It’s easy to charge in my garage. Not everyone has a garage, but superchargers are very common where I am, and it’s easy to charge while shopping if necessary.
- it’s relatively quiet in the car
- the ride is smooth
- the acceleration is good on a few short on ramps that are unfortunately too common in my part of California. Otherwise, I drive fairly conservatively.
- I love the clean dash design. I also love the voice controls and screen controls (when needed, which is rare).
- the autopilot is very useful for my use case.
- overall a very positive driving experience. It’s just fun to drive.
- Total cost of ownership is relatively low, although the purchase price is high. When I bought my model y, the purchase price was comparable to a highlander hybrid, but the cost of ownership after purchase is much lower for the Tesla (mainly due to less maintenance).
Overall, my comment to people is that you will be miserable if you bring an ICE mentality to an EV. But the opposite is also true — bringing an EV mentality to an ICE vehicle will be a miserable experience. ICE and EVs just have different patterns of use, especially regarding refueling/recharging and maintenance.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGDhgAUeBL8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JxTZkSj_qV4
Range 200 miles, top speed above 100mph, street legal all for $6000-7000 by two dudes in some garage who make it up as they go along..
I've seen a few of these around my city. Also Twizy's and a bunch of 50cc ICE cars that you can drive with a moped licence.
From my admittedly anecdotal information, it's mostly -90%- "rich kids". I mean, I don't know if they are rich, obviously, but they are teenagers in at least nice areas. I've even seen some of them around the tiny cars using them as a bit of status item.
They don't need to carry much luggage, they don't need to carry more than 1 lucky friend / love interest, and they don't need to go very far or that many places.
A used car comes with maintenance costs, and in practice for this price range would probably be an ICE.
Personally I would be comparing this more to a micro mobility device than a traditional vehicle. In which case it’s a couple times more expensive than a good e-bike but more convenient for errands
There are options (including the orange colour you want!), but the only worthwhile one is the Cargo variant (in place of the second seat) for 8200€/7300€. No battery upgrade.