ECC Citroen C1 ev'ie review

"It's the UK's first four-seat electric car"

What is it?

The Citroen C1 ev’ie is the first four-seat electric car to be offered on sale in the UK. That means it beats the Mitsubishi i MiEV to market and it’s more practical than BMW’s MINI E. And the less said about the badly-built spod wagon that is the G-Wiz the better…

What does it look like?

The ev’ive isn’t actually an official Citroen product. It’s built by the London-based Electric Car Corporation, although ECC has a deal with the French manufacturer to supply it with discounted C1s.

When a customer orders an ev’ie, they first select the spec of the C1 they’d like - both three or five-door body styles are available. The conventionally-powered car is then delivered to ECC, who strip out and sell the engine. Converting a C1 to electric power takes 24 man-hours to complete, with the motor and 16 of the ev’ie’s 25 lithium ion battery cells squeezing under the bonnet. The remaining batteries fit in the space where the fuel tank used to be, and the plug-in point replaces the fuel filler.

What’s it like inside?

The ev’ive is pretty much standard Citroen C1. Depending on the spec of the car you choose – VT, Splash or VTR – kit like central locking, air conditioning and a CD player can all be had. The only noticeable differences are that the gear knob is different and there’s a pod gauge which shows you how much battery charge you’ve got left.

What’s it like to drive?
The ev’ie has two pedals like a conventional auto-equipped car. You push the gear stick forward to engage go, press the throttle and you’re off. Aside from the lack of noise, the C1 ev’ie is a lot like the standard car to drive. It feels heavier, and it is, but the extra weight actually enhances the car’s feeling of solidity, making you feel safer on faster roads.

The ev’ie only has one gear – ECC currently uses the standard C1 gearbox locked into third. It’s not quick off the mark, but it’ll hit 60mph without too much fuss. But given the fact that the ev’ie is more of a city car, my short drive revealed that second gear would probably be better, sacrificing some top speed for a bit more get up and go off the line.

Verdict

The ev’ie has a range of between 60 and 75 miles, and takes six hours to charge. You also get exemptions from road tax, the congestion charge and parking costs in a fair few places.

But given the ev’ie’s fairly slow performance, and £16,850 price tag, it’s hard to see too many people converting to electric C1 transport any time soon.  You’d have to travel almost 200,000 miles in the ev’ie to make up the difference between the electric car and a conventionally-powered C1.  Probably explains why ECC has only sold 12 so far.

by Tom Phillips