Driven: Renault Twizy
Chris Harris goes electric. And doorless. In the middle of winter.
You would have to be very brave, or be able to guarantee that your journeys would always be shorter than Mo Farah's chosen distance, to rely on a Twizy as your only form of transportation.
It isn't really necessary to list the problems associated with driving a small, windowless electric car in the wettest December on record - bar the fact that on some days I simply couldn't face the potential drenching and even when some of the new auxiliary 'windows' arrived in the post from Renault UK.
The inevitability of it all
Electric power for the motor car is no longer spoken of a potential outcome, to many people it has become an inevitability. After three weeks using one, albeit a car designed for shorter journeys, I just can't see it myself. Within the M25, perhaps. But anywhere outside a major conurbation electric cars don't work. Actually, even inside large towns they don't work because the charging process requires you to park your car on the street and trust in the mutual decency of your fellow human beings not to tamper with the charging cable. Quite.
So, if you live in town, you either have to own a garage, or have a driveway to guarantee a tamper-free charging process. This means that electric cars are for the time being the preserve of rich people, which rather defeats the object of the exercise.
Loose wires
There appear to be two solutions to this: a mass implementation of inductive charging in all of our major cities - in other words pads hidden under the road surface that can charge your batteries wirelessly like those clever widgets for mobile phones. Or the Parisian solution, which is to have stations for swapping your spent batteries for fresh ones. The first would probably be the most expensive and disruptive infrastructure project the UK has undertaken since WW2, and is therefore unlikely to happen outside Westminster Village. The second actually strikes me as a great idea and re-imagines a time of Victorian coach houses - Pickwick and pals stopping for fresh horses. But again, it would cost billions.
But both require huge infrastructure change at a time when we cannot afford to maintain our road system or adequately develop our rail network to accommodate extra passenger volumes. Currently, there isn't a bean to spend on this stuff.
Billy no mates
Accordingly, the electric motorist in rural Britain feels especially lonely - like the character Will Smith plays in apocalyptic New York who can venture into the city by day, but must - absolutely must - return before nightfall. This isn't the Twizy's fault at all. There simply isn't any infrastructure to support such a vehicle There are no charging points - and what happens if you run out of charge on the way home because a landslide added 10 miles to the journey? You're stuffed.
However, there are very rewarding upsides to driving a vehicle that with two occupants and as many shopping bags as can be stuffed under your feet can sustain 51mph on the flat. The first is the delectable silence with which it pulls away from a standing start and then scoots to 20mph. Thereafter you have to deal with the chip-chip-chip of stones stuck in tyre treads and a whining noise that proved the researches working on The Cannonball Run nailed the future sound of electric motoring back in 1981.
Spark of pleasure
The Twizy rides on weeny 125-section tyres and its unassisted steering is rather enjoyable. Weather protection is good for the driver, with just enough wind flutter to let you know that this isn't a supermini. I like that. I also love planning potential overtakes in one of the UK's slowest cars, and after several attempts I managed to inch past an elderly soul in her Nissan Micra. The sense of jubilation was so pathetically written on my face that I don't want to embarrass myself any further describing it here. For the avoidance of doubt, on the public highway, the car will not oversteer.
The Twizy is a rolling metaphor for human reluctance to embrace change. Despite some of our actions, on the whole we are logical creatures and we won't consider profound changes to our lives unless a new solution proves itself so helpful that it supersedes an existing technology. Yes, the electric car is quieter and cleaner - albeit it in the sense that it pushes the pollution to a different place on the energy chain.
Suck squeeze bang blow
But at a time when car makers are squeezing freakish economy figures from the internal combustion engine and the English language is poised to welcome 'fracking' as the most popular technology-related word of 2013, electric cars present themselves in a moral, not a practical capacity.
Historically, we are not known for making global gestures of this nature. The Prius tapped into the zeitgeist, but as we all know, its eco-credentials are extremely questionable.
Renault sits at the hub of this process because it perfectly demonstrates both schools of thought. On the one hand Renault's leap into electric-only vehicles has been a sales disaster. People simply don't want them - Twizy included - in the numbers the French company had hoped. At the same time Renault-owned Dacia is busy pinching market share all over the world by offering the complete opposite: antiquated technology and low-tech internal combustion engines.
In some respects it looks like a clever overall strategy, but that assumes western nations will soon adopt the electric car as a utility device, not an anomaly for wealthy environmentalists. And that depends on state-funded infrastructure, an alien concept in Europe right now.
I would happily own a Twizy. I would use it to pop into town, zip to the pub and generally bimble about the place.
It is the perfect fifth car.
RENAULT TWIZY
Engine: electric motor, 6.1kWh lithium-ion battery pack
Transmission: 1-speed reduction gear
Power (hp): 17
Torque (lb ft): N/A
0-62mph: N/A
Top speed: 50mph (limited)
Weight: 474kg
Range: 60 miles (NEDC)
CO2: Depends how you view it...
Price: £6,990-£7,400 (basic RRP)
Would be a perfect commuter vehicle for me if it was a little cheaper (the cost of battery hire is the killer). What are the running costs like? Does it need an MoT and how much is insurance?
The Twizzy thing would suit me to travel the 2 miles twixt home and workshop as I can't walk very far due to my ankle problems. so far so good. But £7000? I will stick to my LPG shed Micra that cost £300.
These things need to be around the £3000 to sell. But that isn't going to happen.
Perhaps when Renault realise that they aren't going to sell shedloads (!) of these they will discount the hell out of them....
If a firm is to break a niche and expand it then the biggest killer is primary outlay cost not the inconvenience of electricity.
Don't see why you couldn't also run something like this akin to a Boris Bike scheme blended with a classic Park and Ride. I'm sure large numbers of people would actually be happy to park a car at the outskirts or take a train to the outskirts and then swipe a card to run into town in one of these.
Wasn't me officer
Honest...
Would be a perfect commuter vehicle for me if it was a little cheaper (the cost of battery hire is the killer). What are the running costs like? Does it need an MoT and how much is insurance?
But yep the battery hire is the killer. When I did the sums a diesel smart ForTwo worked out cheaper to run new vs new. And the smart had the added bonus of luggage space, being able to carry two people properly, being able to do 70mph (+) if needed and being able to be long distance on a tank full and almost instant re-filling at a petrol station. Plus you need a drive to charge the Twizzy on while a smart could be parked on the road. Not a major issue so long as you have a driveway.
Wasn't me officer
Honest...
Also you mustn't forget that a huge amount of the CO2 produced in a cars life is in the manufacturing not the running (in my day it was estimated to be over 50% and I'd imagine greater now with better fuel efficiency)so if you have the equivalent of a new engine every X years does that get included in the CO2 figures? The person with the old Micra he keeps going in its dotage is probably one of the most frugal CO2 motorists around?
I do think cars like the Volt are clever though with the range extender engine making it practical to have just one car, an almost toy second car just being a CO2 hog no matter what type it is perhaps.
I heard a story yesterday that a chap has an electric smart car (did not know they did electric ones) due to M3 being closed he was stuck for 2 hours had to turn around to get back home and get the missus Merc ML to get to work. the problem with electric only is that they are electric only. once you have no juice you are stuck, hybrid is the way forward with part disiesel/petrol and electric
Also can manufacturers put a winder on the front of cars as I have a wind up torch and a wind up radio, can they do a similar system to do a quick charge to get you home or to the nearest charge point?? damn maybe I shoudl have trademarked the idea - doh!
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