One of the biggest bumps, if not the biggest, for people buying electric cars, are the high entry prices.
I always tell them electric cars are cheaper to maintain, they use less energy... Or rather, energy costs are lower,
and you can even speculate that an electric car is worth more if you trade it in after a while.
However, the high buying price remains. And to be honest, durable can be a bit more expensive right? Biological eggs...
cost a bit more as well, or farm-to-table vegetables or meat? However, people say you can't compare that with car prices,
and you're right. Nevertheless, it's a good reason to look at some relatively cheap electric cars.
Let me repeat the word 'relatively', because both of these cars cost around €24.000. That's an enormous price for cars in the A-segment.
Anyway, it's still cheaper than all of the Tesla's and Jaguar's.
Funny enough, both cars started life years ago as petrol cars, only to be converted to electrical cars in a later period.
And that's logical, because car manufacturers are obligated to only emit 95 grams of CO2 per kilometre across their range.
On average that is, and to reach that you need electric cars.
They were mandatory, so they converted their small cars to electric cars. And for some manufacturers, that worked out better than for others.
This Skoda CitiGo has a 61 kW-electric motor aboard, which is around 83 horsepower from the top of my head.
Also, it produces 207 Nm of torque, which makes it nice and powerful. You can drive it in 'D' or in 'B', which turns up the regenerative braking...
so that you can almost drive it with one pedal. Like a Nissan Leaf really, but it's not that powerful.
The battery pack weighs 250 kg and that's a lot for a small car like this. Almost like a regular CitiGo with four people aboard,
and the springs have been tuned for that. It's a lot sturdier, which you'll notice if you drive over a bump. It'll resonate quite a lot.
Not very refined, but it's alright in here. The steering is quite light, so let's dive into the electric motor.
However, what's there to be said? It's clinical and it runs very nicely, but all of the feeling is gone.
In front of the gear lever, there's a button that says Eco and Eco Plus. When you want to drive economically efficient,
you of course engage Eco-mode. Switching to Eco Plus however, takes some consideration. Only do so if you're wearing a thick...
sweater in the winter or nothing in the summer, because Eco Plus disables the heater and air conditioning. All of which to spare the battery.
And it's quite a battery pack. A 36,8 kWh-one to be exact, which should get you 260 km on a single charge according to WLTP.
Of course, you won't reach that. My experience with EV's is that they reach around 70-75% of their indicated WLTP-range.
Still, this could do 200 km on a single charge, which is very decent. The steering wheel is only adjustable in height, and it's very necessary,
because if you sit regularly behind your steering wheel, it blocks the instrument cluster. Not very handy.
It isn't very cheap, but it's pretty complete. This is the slightly more expensive Style-trim. It has automatic air conditioning, active lane...
assist, adaptive cruise control... Quite a decent trim. Satnav has to come from your own phone, but they've got a nice holder for that.
There's an USB-port back there as well. Sure, it doesn't look very fancy, a cable on your dashboard, but it sure is practical.
Then there's the Smart ForFour EQ. You might notice I'm talking faster now, because I'm scared this is going to run out before I'm done.
Which immediately brings us to the biggest drawback of the car. It's been converted from petrol to electric as well, and they didn't...
seem to have a lot of room for the batteries. It only has a 17,8 kWh battery pack which means 130 km on a single charge according to WLTP.
It was charging up all night, but when I started it up this morning it only had 79 km left. Sure, it was only three degrees celsius, but still.
Running for 79 km is a lot, but driving for only 79 km? That's nothing. Smart says 'you don't need more range', but I'll be the judge of that.
Sure, it's a city car, but sometimes you need to get out of the city. And for that, it just doesn't have the range.
The electric motor produces around the same amount of power as the CitiGo, although it has slightly less torque.
I don't really miss it however. Also, the electric drivetrain is a tad less advanced. It doesn't have a B-mode for regenerative braking.
It does have an Eco-mode, but it doesn't really do a lot. Also, you have to turn it on everytime you get in the car,
because the car turns it off automatically. I don't like that, because with a battery pack this size, I always want Eco-mode.
But fortunately, there are some positive things about it. I like the way it looks for example. It's a very hip car, and it's marketed as such.
If you look in the blurb, you'll see guys with man-buns and skateboards everywhere, and girls with lips which can cancel out airbags, you name them.
They're all incredibly urban, and that's what you want to be with this ForFour. It's hip, it's city, it's urban, and that's it.
You don't want to travel too far away though. Also, this has a very good charging port. Up to 22 kW, but it needs that as well, because it doesn't...
have any quickcharging-compatibility.
What I do like however, and what's very advantageous for city driving, is that the engine is mounted at the back. That means the turning circle is tiny.
You can easily get into tight turns and tight parking spaces, and that's very handy in the city.
Also, the front and rear doors open very widely, which makes the car entry very easy.
When it comes to trim however, it's not as royal as the CitiGo. Sure, you could say the CitiGo has the most luxurious trim equipped,
and this is the entry level ForFour, but they cost about the same. So it shouldn't matter. This only has regular cruise control instead...
of adaptive, no driving lane assist, an outdated infotainment system... However, the way it looks is great. The fun dials, these bulbs, a very...
sympathetic car to look at. It only needs another color. Phonebooth Green for example?
You probably saw it coming, but the conclusion isn't a surprising one. Sure, the Smart is fun and all and it's very agile,
but you really have to like it to put aside the rational arguments the CitiGo has to offer.
It almost has double the range, it has more equipment, it's more spacious, so everything put together: the CitiGo is the car to go with.
However, as you're used to from us, we'll have a more comprehensive test in the magazine. And there's a third car joining the party.
A much bigger car at that: the MG ZS EV. My apologies for my Dutch pronuncitation, I don't want to use my 'stone coal' English...
when we're talking about electric cars. Anyway, the MG will be joining in because it's not that much more expensive, so a lot of value for money.
So it should fit in there pretty snug, you can read all about it in the magazine.