by We are doing electric cars wrong. Instead of big big heavy monsters that may or may not have a range of over 200 miles and all the bells and whistles to please a petrol head, we should be thinking – make it smaller, lighter, slower.
Before you get all angry, keep this in mind – I’m talking about cars for cities. If you live outside the city, have a big electric car (if you have a big electric budget). But I’m not sure most people who go on and on about range anxiety and can’t drive from Penzance to Cambridge without struggling to find a charger really *want* to drive in all that way. It is the think for not being able to make it so that they all succeed.
Me, I just want something to get to and from work, around the shops and in and out of the city center (yes, I live in London). That’s why I’ve driven the same tiny electric vehicle for the past 15 years (you can read about it here).
The reality for anyone living in a built-up area is that the distances traveled are relatively small and the speed limit is likely to be 30mph or, more likely, 20mph, so there is a new interest (or renewed for us as early adopters). the smaller end of the market. There is real demand for such hatchbacks, with a six-week wait from an order for the Citroen Ami.
I had heard and read about the vehicle – particularly in the Telegraph – but I first saw them in action on the tarmac at Funchal airport in Madeira last winter. The team was using the tiny vehicle to shuttle between planes; and they had solar panels on their roofs – neat. All well and good and far away from other traffic and not much range needed… but what about in real life?
I left my antique electric GWiz parked up for a week to see how the new-gen version would fit into my life. Someday soon I will have to retire from my beloved “rollerboot” because it is falling apart, bit by bit. Call me Pollyanna but it’s been a great mode of transport 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 had comments declaring that I was an unfit mother to put them at risk by driving such a quiet vehicle. And yet, here we all are, still alive and well. I have never had a serious collision – I know the effect of that and drive accordingly; an approach that more of us could do with accepting, regardless of the size and size of our car.
I’ve seen the Citroen Ami described as an “ultra-compact urban vehicle” that’s sexier than an “electric quadrotor” (it’s a description). I’ve never been proud of the car but it takes some getting used to. You will notice from these photos that it is a strange cube (measuring 2.4m long, 1.4m wide and 1.5m high) and looks the same from both sides. Unlike my GWiz, which tries to mimic actual cars by having upholstered seats, a rear-view mirror and a modest “boot” (in its case, where the engine normally sits), it delights Ami in his utilitarianism. It’s like being inside a Lego brick – all hard surfaces and weird plastic “storage solutions”.
This is a driving experience that takes some getting used to. I sit slap bang in the middle of the cube, equidistant from the front and back, so the windshield is out of sight (and there’s no rearview mirror). The driver’s seat is on the left, with a single passenger seat on the right and slightly behind, giving me a strong Uber driver vibe. Maybe that is useful if there is a newer demand for individual taxi lifts?
The driver’s door is what used to be called, in the bad old days, a suicide door, because it has hinges to open backwards. With the Ami, having both exits hinged to the right is a budget feature (if one is damaged, there is only one version to replace, which cuts costs). I quickly get used to being extra careful when opening the door!
Due to the lack of a rear view mirror (apparently deemed unnecessary due to Ami’s reduced size) I rely heavily on the door mounted ones, but they are tiny, less than my makeup compounds. That means I’m alert the whole time I’m driving, but maybe that’s not a bad thing (we all know that distracted drivers can be deadly). Indeed, there is no distractions – unless you’ve configured the Ami with add-ons to play music. There is no pro-laptop-sized dash-equipped touchscreen that you find in the latest cars.
Driving around with my husband, we got out to get our sunglasses, that’s the big window glass. The almost completely clear roof, if the sun hits it right, can make it very dazzling and difficult to read the digital speedometer – which is otherwise clear and useful (any electric vehicle driver knows to keep an eye on the amount of battery charge remaining. ).
But to focus on the battery for a moment – with a range of 45 miles and city center speed limits – I get days and days of driving without any “range anxiety”. It’s a nimble little creature, sure, so it’s very easy to get up to 20mph at times but I get almost a full week of commuting and scurrying to the shops before I’m looking for a plug on the street.
Even if I was based in a town like the one in Wiltshire where my sister lives I could go to the retail park a mile away and come back loaded with no stress – and I’d have a driveway at home to park. . and charge on. It’s worth thinking about.
Another reason to settle well with this bit of utility driving is my fellow road users. Being a little closer to the curb thanks to the pan-European driving position, I’m more aware of cyclists and – thanks to the Ami’s smaller size – I can give them a wide berth without having to fight the traffic come.
You might grind your teeth at the thought of giving way to Lycra-clad warriors on two wheels, but in any common city we all need to be as good as possible without incident. At least I don’t want to do any tapping because it will knock those dinky wing mirrors out of whack and to reposition them means flipping up the very analog windows, which are a bit, um, sparse. They are a nod to the inspiration, the iconic Citroen 2CV.
Am I allowed to be picky when I drive something – if I have as long a life as my GWiz – that would work out to an outlay of £500 a year (without insurance and servicing)? If so, details like the no-click indicator when you’ve completed a turn drive me a little crazy. And while I love the neon yellow nylon pull tags to open the doors, they require a decent yank. I’m used to being able to stash anything I don’t want stolen in a hidden store; the Ami doesn’t have that feature, but that said, there’s definitely plenty of space in the passenger side aisle for shopping – it handled my weekly groceries with ease.
As a long-time veteran of driving a vehicle that is mostly seen as a curiosity, even an annoyance, I’m used to pointing fingers, smiling blankly and occasionally asking for more information about “the thing what are you driving”, but I didn’t get any of that with the Ami, despite it being a relatively rare sight in our cities.
Is it because there are so many e-scooters, canopied motorbikes, three-wheeled open cars and goodness knows what else, that this battery-powered beetle is not that impressive? I hope. I’m definitely thinking about the Ami, sooner rather than later. As long as I’m a city dweller, this is for me. Maybe yours too? My now grown up daughter needs to learn to drive and I think it’s a great solution for transport that is economical in every way – no parking panic when she turns sixpence and fits on the side of the road into a bay.
As Citroen itself says in its Ami marketing information: “Like the original 2CV that mobilized the masses of the past, Ami brings electric mobility to the masses of today.” Mass might be stretching it a bit, even if it’s the talk of urban EV enthusiasts.
I just want to live in a city close to silence, with small vehicles driving around politely, sharing parking spaces and charging points. But I suspect that human nature won’t get everyone on board…yet.
The Ami costs from £8,495: citroen.co.uk/ami
