Not only is it a cheap EV, it is pretty much the cheapest CAR you can get in the UK. There is pretty much nothing under £15k that isn't a Dacia already.
@@jimbrown2688what? You realize that this car will sometime be sold second hand too for less.. Bringing it to even more people. Ofcourse theres a need for lower priced new vehicles.
Presumably that £14,995 price is for the 45HP variant. It also appears to have only 2 seat belts in the rear, so definitely a 4-seater, not a 5-seater. When tested by NCAP in 2021 it received a 1 star rating.
Did I see correctly, that this tiny and cheap car manages to find space for a frunk for your charging cable, when so many bigger and more expensive EVs fail? Love it
Yeah, because the Romanian Government reduced the Rabla subvention for electrical cars at 5100 euros, Dacia reduced the price for Spring at 15000 euros. So, we could buy it at a bit less than 10k euros. Pretty bargain, if you can charge it at home, at a cost of 0.80 lei/kwh (0.135 GBP), if you have contract with the Hidroelectrica supplier. I can't wait for it to appear in the showrooms, to go and test it. My sister has recently got her driver license, so she wants to buy a electric new car for the city huge traffic jam. Enjoy! 😊
The best home charging prices in the UK are 5p per kwh. That's less than £1.50 to fill the 28kwh battery for 137 miles of range. That works out as 1.1p per mile.
@@efiu12 , you're wrong! 😛 She wants a new small electric car, not a big one, to go from home to her job place, to park it easier, due to the huge trafic jam and the lack of the parking spots in Cluj-Napoca. Later, hater! 😛🤦🖕🤫
Lovely, bubbly Imogen. Thank you so much for putting perspective on the rear seat space. Telling us your height (and even Jack's!) really helps us evaluate the space we are seeing. A super review of a really important car.
October is when it ships apparently, for anyone who doesn't want to look through a dozen articles and their website to find the most important information about it. It seems £15K for the basic, £16K for the mid and £17K for the top range one. If I understood it correctly, the top end one has some level of vehicle to device charging which is a pretty good way to upsell it, and a lot more reasonably priced than getting a 1TB drive on your Apple product ;)
By the way, the longest road trip I'd do would be 217 miles. So I'd have to charge on the way. Big deal. I can plan for that, just like I used to plan long drives in a petrol car. Because I'm intelligent enough to drive. If I wanted to go to Edinburgh, I could manage that too. This notion that you can't take a 'low range' EV and get anywhere in the country you want is just total nonsense. Are we going to start acknowledging amputation is anything more than a flesh wound, too? Maybe let our upper lips wobble? Cry at articles on the news? Weep when the puppy dies in a Keanu film?
@@jonevansauthor bear in mind that at motorway speeds in winter, this will likely get ~50-60 miles between stops (because you don't charge to 100% when fast-charging, and motorway speeds drains the battery faster due to increased air resistance, and winter reduces range due to adverse weather and lower temperatures impacting battery efficiency). Presuming you drive to 10% battery (not wise to drive the battery flat, due to sparse charging infrastructure still), and charge to 80% (charging speed drops off *massively* above 80%, generally), that gives you ~70% of the claimed range... add on losses from motorway speeds and winter (~15-25%, depending on if it has a heatpump, and the actual speeds, etc), and you're down to ~50% of 'official' range. This means a 40-min wait every ~60 miles.... so yes, you *can* make longer journeys in this vehicle, but you'll be making them pretty slowly.
Vehicule-to-Load (V2L) on such low end vehicule is a plus, but I would definitely prefer Vehicule-to-Home (V2H), to use it to store excess solar energy from photovoltaic panels during the day, and re-use at night, or recharge at lower tariff at night, and re-use during the day. Furthermore, it provides an option as a back-up generator which could come handy for any storm,… Please Renault/Dacia, have your EV compatible with bi-directionnal charging and V2H 🙏
@logicalChimp should get more than 60 in winter motorway conditions I think. My Nissan Leaf with a now 16kwh usable battery can do 40-50 and iirc the spring's usable battery is nearly double that in a much lighter vehicle. Edit: still not a strong road tripper but that's okay, so long as they're possible and the car is a nice place to be that's enough. I've road tripped my Leaf 270 miles each way and would do it again.
I don't expect a modern car design to be eye candy, and this is not, but everything else about it is well judged. A very attractive and sensible car. Best wishes from George
8k second hand in three years? Sold!! Looks like I will be able to join the electric revolution sooner than I expected. I had been waiting to see what price these would come out at. It is possible I might even get one new.
I've just bought a 30 month old Seat Mii electric for a tadd over £10k. They are out there, loads of them. Was also looking at a 3 year old Zoe for £11k, both with 32,000 miles behind them.
@@Brian-om2hh that's a good thing Brian. That's the literal goal of smaller cars, that they be smaller so the smaller they are, the better. But he could easily have got any number of second hand EVs in all sorts of sizes at that price that are better than this car, except not new.
@@Brian-om2hh, I heard that they increased the interior space and the trunk space at 380 litres, which owns to the B-class cars trunk, not an A-class car, as it is. 😜
I was preparing to say it’s still not affordable, but £15k actually is the mark I mention in previous comments as being the threshold for affordability when you include running cost savings. Well done.
This is great, very good for city transport. Dont know why the petrol head hate EVs so much... at this price this is a very good EV accessible to general population....a longer wheelbase where the wheels is push to both ends help improve interior space, it does not help in turning radius, what help in turning radius for this car is that this car is so short, turning it wont be a issue.
The problem is that the car is so short that the legroom at the back is pretty terrible… The car should be a bit longer towards 4m to give enough legroom… The quality of the seats seems really bad and uncomfortable compared to the Citroën ë-C3…
@trevorberridge6079 A shorter wheelbase shorter distance between the front and rear wheels allows the car to turn more sharply, the longer the wheelbase the longer the turning radius.
What a dumb comment: "don't why the petrol head hate EVs so much". Most of us sont care if it's petrol, diesel or electric. The issue with electric cars is the charging time! Not everyone can charge it at home. If I drive a car and I run out of gas, o take a jerrican, walk to the station. Running out of juice with an electric car means recovery truck.
Our first car a Zoe, did 90 - 100 miles and we took it to Outer Hebrides no problem. Now we have Kona, goes anywhere long distance. Never a concern. Goes well, 5 years ownership.
@@superleggenda I'm sorry but that is demonstrably false. The average UK driver only drives an average of around 20 miles per day and only 4.5% of vehicles drive more than 41 miles per day. This car is perfectly adequate for the vast majority of people. I'm definitely not saying that some people don't need more. Sure there are some circumstances where more is definitely necessary but I think most people drive less miles than they think. Also, battery prices are coming down rapidly year on year so we should start seeing bigger batteries for less money indicated in consumer prices (one can hope!!), so definitely not the end.
@@superleggenda Furthermore, I've lived with a Seat Mii electric as my only car for 3 years and counting and it has a 32kWh battery which is not far from the Spring and it is overall a heavier vehicle. I've done roadtrips of more than 200 miles and it's more than acceptable. Definitely not only confined to the city as I've heard many say.
The Spring architecture is absolutely not new. It is based on the Renault Kwid which is an ICE-powered cheap vehicule for India and emerging markets back in 2015, that derived towards an electric version for the chinese market, then for Europe as a Dacia afterwards. Plus, they did not seem to change that platform from the previous generation/facelift to has been out in other parts of Europe since 2020. Great to have the prices for UK! In France where the EV government incentive excludes most car made out of Europe, it will have a serious competition with the Citroen E-C3.
This is what people want, a simple EV with no unnecessary gadgets at a fair price. It has a normal-ish gear selector and a real handbrake, even a normal key. This is a real car that any driver could hop into and just take to the road without having to relearn everything. Only downside is range, the range isn't enough for it to replace your current car, ideally they would offer a bigger battery pack option or a second battery pack that is using the wasted space under the boot so it could be bumped up to 170 or even 200 miles range which is the sweet spot for EV's. An example of this is a place I like to visit is a 180 miles from me. If Dacia did that they would be a class leader.
The trouble is that batteries are not only expensive but also heavy. You may find that the brakes need to be upgraded as well as, possibly, the suspension. You've also doubled the charging time and the DC charging is already, shall we say, not class leading. It's designed to be a cheap run around for charging at home and if you want a longer range model then you need to look elsewhere.
@@narrowboatlongpod4176 There's a balance, the range isn't good enough as it stands. The car is designed to carry more than it does so maybe not needing too much work. Loose the steel wheels for alloy, the weight saving will give you more miles. Loose the steel panels for plastic, you would probably gain 10 miles doing just that. Now say they did a long range model for 5 grand more, that could do a 180 miles, they could probably fit extra cells in that battery pack and it will do just that. It does nearly a 140 miles now, just gain 40 more miles and it would be a car people could use all the time. Where the Engine would be there's a big space, you could get a second tiny battery pack in there and gain 40 miles, shouldn't mess the car up either. As for other EV's you try finding a simple one like this that is car like without all the crap bolted on, you can't. You try finding a new EV with a real hand brake, gear selector and key. This is 90% there, just the range needs to be upped a little.
i can definitely see a market for that, if you can charge from home on a discount overnight tarriff and do low miles per day/week, will be a huge saving
My bet is that the biggest opportunity for cars like this are 2-car households. I think a lot of families would still want a bit more range for a primary car (even if it's "just in case") but wouldn't have a problem having an economical car like this as their second vehicle.
We are a family of 5, and have it as a second car. We make 80% of our kilometers with this little car and that is 22000km after a full year. We charge it at home with a simple adapter on a standard 16A electric plug. No need to have a costly charger and if it is a second car, 'o need to have 5 seats or a very long range, my wife do 110km trips 3 times a week, and the rest is carrying the children for a lot of small trips
I think this will do really well, if it were LFP itd do REALLY well. I picked up a DFSK EC35 van with a 40kwh LFP battery in January new for £14200 inc vat. I want to see more of this in the car space.
It's going to fly off the shelf as people are starting to realise they don't need a big heavy battery that takes money and energy to haul around when you don't need it 95% of the time and you charge at home.
Well well, it's cheaper than I expected. There will always be the nay sayers but this is something a lot of people will have been waiting for. Gonna be a gem on the used car market.
Excellent ! That’s the car and your review. One huge impact will be to pull the prices of other small EV’s down to reasonable levels, who in their right mind will buy the German Mini or the e500 when this arrives later in the year. It will be interesting to see what impact it has on the incoming Chinese cars, sort of whipped the carpet out from under their feet !
I really hope Dacia has made it simple to repair and maintaim for DIY'ers. That one of the things I have intrigued me with Dacia that they are the only manufacturer I know of that have spoken openly that they want to keep things simple and robust. Something we are very much missing on all the other space age rocketships being launched today
That's what I thought. Just plan your day properly, as you would have before GPS when you needed a route planner. People are so pathetic about it. 'Oh no, once a year I have to think before going on a slightly longer trip.'
At that point the problem is not range, its time. If you have to charge three times to get to your destination and every charge takes 45 Minutes (as stated) you have 2:15 charge time. Sure you would take breaks in an ICE and sure if you are traveling with kids you take more breaks, but if you have a big trip twice a year you can just say whatever and rent a car to save that time. You are not paying extra because you cant do it, you pay extra for convenience, just like you might own a small car but rent a bigger one to go on a road trip with more people.
@@mlsasd6494 3 charges on route means 4 times draining it. e.g. Ft William to Folkestone. So to put this into perspective, you’re getting up into plane trip distance … and then a person would be spending 2hrs 15 waiting in an airline terminal and another 30 at arrival getting luggage.
Well if you only do the occasional longer journey then renting is a very good option IMO. Something bigger so more comfortable and more luggage space, a bit quicker for motorway driving, ICE so no need for charging stops......
Thanks for the review. Nice little EV, there will be even more this year. The Citroën ë-C3 and the Renault R5 E-Tech. But those are more around €25k, and better allround EV's with a usable range, that can replace our small ICE Smart Cabrio.
A good few reviewers mention a secondhand Zoe or similar for the mid-teen grand budget might be better in terms of spec. But same argument goes for any care - EV or ICE - like the people who claim you could get a not too old big Merc for the price of a new family hatch. This Spring looks great
Yes, they're right, of course and you're right that it's always true of any car. I'm grateful for the people who are willing to pay for new just so they can immediately lose thousands the moment they get the thing home from the dealers. I'm wondering what it's price will be second hand in December (it delivers in the UK in October apparently).
Except a 2 year old Zoe will still be under warranty, be extremely.low.mileage and better equipped in every way. So unless you're desperate for something brand new, the Zoe is far superior in every way.
It's fine. A perfectly practical car. Good price. Good range for the battery capacity. Means you'll be getting loads of driving done for every buck spent charging. And the interior is fine as well. Not the greatest, but for perspective - It's way nicer than sitting in, for example, a modern passenger jet econo class. Exactly how nice does it have to be lol? A value darling for sure.
For all the sub-23-mile trips, I have a bicycle, and I have a public transport ticket for the whole year. And if you are talking about weekend shopping, I have a tricycle with a loading tray and four supermarkets in walking distance.
I think it would be all part of fun to do the occasional road trip in this. Worst that happens is you get a few travellers tales about finding a charge in the middle of nowhere, or getting towed by the AA to the nearest one - worst case scenario is not really that bad...
I don't necessarily agree with this being a new platform. Sounds like sales jargon. The underpinnings under the bonnet, doors, Wheelbase seem too similar to the older version. Looks like a substantial facelift to me.
@@jonevansauthor The Spring, older version, was definitely an ICE platform. It was an electrified verision of the Renault Kwid, aimed at emerging markets. What I'm saying is I'm pretty sure the new Spring is based on the same Kwid platform, based on the factors I mentioned before. Of course, they seem to have put more effort into the EV implementation this time.
Still faster to 62 than last generation ice basic small car, like, Up, I10 and Aygo. Who would ring the hell out of their 3 cyl, 1L to redline to get to 62 in 16,7 sec? In real life, the Spring would feel way faster.
Totally true. Although I do sometimes wring every last bee-aich-pee out of my little 1 litre Daihatsu as it just seems to beg for it! As you say though, this will feel faster as the acceleration will be better at the lower end. The 0-30 will be better than an ICE with the same 0-60 time.
I don't believe that turning circle though. 4.8 metres is 15'9". My Reliant Fox has a 24' turning circle and is the tightest turning car I've ever known. I think they may be referring to the RADIUS so that would make the turning circle around 32' which is good but not Earth shattering.
I got a spring since last year. It is the perfect car for short daily drives. I sold my hybrid and bought a petrol c4 to have a long drive car. I charge the spring 99% at home and drive it for about 30-40km daily, home, kid work and back and maybe some other short trips in the city Not a big electric motor so not big power consumption, light it is excelent for heavily congested city driving. If everyone would buy a small electric car for city driving instead of the huge suv's that carry 1 person driving in the city would be very different.
I wish my daily commute was as little as these manufacturers come out with, I use a motorbike in good weather and my little car the rest of the time, my little car has covered 150000 miles in 12 years and it's only used for work, I combine journeys so shop on route home I don't go out of my way I also cover around 10,000 miles per year on my motorbike
Looks pretty good. The previous model couldn't really reach motorway speeds but this one apparently goes up to 78mph? I know 70+mph doesn't give the best range but I'd be glad to be able to safely overtake a lorry etc. unlike the older version.
I have the one before this as I live in France. I love mine. It's great on our roads here, it is agile and nippy and cost next to nothing to charge at home. I prefer the look of mine but like this as well. If you don't do incredibly long journeys and want a car to nip to the supermarket or walk the dog etc. This is highly recommended. Cheap does not mean rubbish, ask any Dacia owner.
True. Which appears to be 8 or 9 years old and has had some updates since. It's built on an EV version of a platform, but not a ground-up EV in my opinion.
@@mikewhitehead50 made by Dongfeng in China. They had to strengthen the car. China does actually have regulations on battery safety. The Dongfeng version (Nano Box) looks better. Smoother front and way better inside. Of course it is less than 1/2 the price of the Spring.
Dacia could do incredibly well with this. Looks like they've got a hell of a lot right. Even the cheap materials look decent and better than some cars at twice the price (yes I'm looking at you Renault) There are so many people in the UK who this would suit perfectly. We could be seeing a lot of these about next year.
The Spring doesn't have a new platform, it's still the same technology as the pre-facelift, but the new one get a pretty solid and fundamental facelift.
I wish there were EVs anywhere near this end of the price scale available in Canada. As it is we have much fewer choices *and* much higher prices for even what is considered a base model.
Well done Dacia. These are the cars we need. That "car of the people" type of car. Its that 20 year old just starting a career type of car. That small family car you keep and let the teen drive when they become of age. The we need a second cheap second car so the family has options car. I hope to see these in the US some day.
I agree. I think it's smart to lean into a different styling than the normal "cute" small car. Much more appealing to me than the spring just a few years ago. Looks promising.
I do love this channel, but I'm sorry, I have to say this is not a "brand new platform", it's the same as before, derived from ad ICE A segment car (CMF-A from 2015), and heavily refreshed with a nice look inside and out and new safety sistems.
As well as the new entry-level eC3, if you were looking at a used EV, the VW Up! / Seat Mii / Skoda City-Go IV all expect you to just use your mobile phone.
Random none-car related question, as someone from outside of the UK, where is her accent from please? Is it Cheshire, or perhaps Chelsea? Thank you =) She's lovely to listen to i could listen to that voice for hours. Better than Kiwi accents we have here haha.
I need a car to go 175km in winter and I want to charge it from my PV. So, this little nipper ticks all the boxes. As attractive as a cardbord box but oh, so sensible. And that means something to me as a German. I'll book a test drive ASAP.
Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but it can't make it 175km in the winter. Closer to 100km, maybe 120. This winter we got 21 kwh/100km. In any other seasons you can squeeze 175km out of it. We get 12-13kwh/100km round the town.
Be prepared though, from April 2025 the uk government will want £185 of your hard earned money every year in the guise of road tax! That’s for all zero emission cars not just EV’s…we just can’t catch a break in this country! 😢
Imogen you have my permission to take a holiday, tell Robert I said it's ok. 😅. Also really enjoying the long interviews you're doing on Everything Electric.
I think this is future of EVs. 95% of folks dont need useless tech and a 300 mile range. The 29 kWh battery will not cost an arm to replace after 7-8 years
Not for me what with the small battery and no doubt restricted range all things considered. However hopefully it will be popular enough to inspire better copycat versions from other manufacturers that help propel the EV revolution forward.
The DC charging being limited in cheaper EVs really feels like they are trying to kill road trips. You might not do it most of the time but when you do having to wait that long to charge is rather annoying for such little range, especially considering it could have at least been 50kw and slightly quicker for nothing.
I think this car will find a lot of interest even with people who own or can own more expensive EVs as a second city car. Especially because it actually looks quite spiffy, and nicely modern. Its low speed and acceleration are only a boon for local town-city driving anyway. And then you have all the people who really, really need a cheap but good Ev just for normal daily living. This should be quite a hit. Pretty great representation, btw. It was nice to listen to.
Thanks. 🙂👍This car would be superb for use in Britain and Europe with twice the available battery capacity. Battery prices are projected to halve by the end of 2024, so a larger battery at this sensible price point is a realistic expectation for next years model.
I like it but would love to see smaller cars like smart/c1 size that are no frills, basic and more affordable. I actually liked the basic version of this that Jack reviewed and I'm sure it was much cheaper! Great review Imogen 👏
I've got one. I live in France. It's a really practical, cheap little run around. A couple of negatives though, the body work is very thin and dents easily and the range is quite short. In spite of the information on the tin (pun intended) I wouldn't trust it to do more than 170 kms without needing a recharge.
Pity this did not come out earlier when Governments were giving subsidies. It would have almost halved the initial purchase price. Now most have dropped them. Well certainly in my part of the globe.
Will sell like hot cakes because there is a huge potential market of people who want a low cost runabout that will be driven in urban conditions, who can charge at home, and who do not wish to rely on public transport or visit the diminishing number of petrol stations in their locality.
Looks like a great little car at the money but the range will put a lot of people off like a lot of other EVS but for shopping trips it’s not bad at the price,it going to cripple the new Citroen C3 on price and other manufacturers are going to have a rethink on their prices.
Range looks practical to me. When I used to commute to work I travelled further than any other staff member (out of about 20 people) ... yet that was only 14 miles each way. A car like this would be perfect if you could plug in when you get home. In fact this range would suit us as a second car even though we now live deep into the Scottish countryside and it's a 45 mile round trip if we have to access a supermarket. The only limit applies to people who don't have home charging ... we routinely leave our Tesla plugged in every night at home whether it need charging or not ... and that would be the same with this car.
Looks good. I think the light weight will make it a refreshing drive. I hate the weight of electric cars. It does exacerbate my motion sickness. This however is an ideal second car. Unfortunately for me. I only have one car which regularly do over 140 miles over the weekends. Glad to see companies thinking of efficiency. I feel most electric cars don't bother much about it and simply use larger and heavier batteries. When driving on the B roads, the weight of the car is Unfortunately very obvious
