Dacia to spring Europe's cheapest EV on UK
Yes, Dacia makes an electric car. Yes, it's cheap. And from next year, it's over here
If you’ve never heard of the battery-powered Dacia Spring, you are forgiven. For one thing, it’s absolutely not the sort of car to light up the enthusiast radar like a Christmas tree; for another, its maker has limited its supply so far to continental Europe, which is like a whole other country. But from next year, Dacia says it will start selling the Spring in the UK, and that’s significant because it promises to be what most other EVs are not: affordable.
How affordable, you cry. Well, we don’t know yet because Dacia is still crunching the numbers. But in France, where the EV subsidy is still notably plump, you can currently get one from 15,800 euros - or about £13,500. Needless to say, you can forget about seeing that number repeated over here, but circa £20k would still make the Spring significantly cheaper than the £26,995 starting price of an MG4 EV. And, non-cars like the Citroen Ami and Smart EQ fortwo aside, that would make it comfortably the most affordable EV in the UK.
But is it good? Well, that's hard to say. We assume it probably isn’t because it’s based on the Renault City K-ZE, which, in turn, is a battery-electric version of the Renault Kwid - originally the kind of super-cheap, India-built prospect that never makes it far beyond sub-Saharan Africa. And because it only has 44hp (or 65hp in the Extreme version) and a WLTP range of 140 miles. Which is not very much of either. So it’s probably fair to say, on paper at least, that the entry-level 170hp MG4 EV with 218 miles of range is better.
However, it’s also fair to say that none of its comparative limitations have done it any harm in Europe. Dacia says it has attracted 120,000 customer orders since its launch in 2021. And the majority of buyers have been retail customers, purchasing a second car for commuting during the week. Now, granted, most Europeans seem to work a nanosecond from where they live and are apparently content to get there at a supremely leisurely pace - but Dacia is probably not wrong in its assumption that the Spring could be made to fit a powerfully built UK buyer’s mindset.
“We are thrilled that Dacia Spring will come to the UK in 2024. It will certainly be worth the wait! It will literally plug a gap in the UK electric car market for a highly usable, quality EV that won’t break the bank and which makes electric vehicle ownership more realistic than ever,” said Luke Broad, Dacia’s brand director. “UK car buyers can look forward to an EV that’s perfectly aligned to their mobility requirements and, importantly, is done the Dacia way.”
To help convince customers about the shrewdness of choosing the ‘Dacia way’ the firm confirmed just this week that the Spring will be facelifted ahead of its launch. Expect that to bring the styling in line with the established UK lineup including the latest Duster - which we’ll admit being quite partial to. Lest we forget, that car was also exceptionally cheap and cheerful when it launched in the UK a decade ago. Now look at it. Who would bet against Dacia doing the same thing again?
At the quick glance I've taken above, the Spring could knock these out of the park as the obvious commuter/city car choice.
Now, and I live in the Cheltenham area, the second car is a Range Rover or for those without the bucks perhaps a Qashqai, there are very few small cars on those journeys it seems.
So this might well be all the car you need for running around town and doing the school run, but changing peoples attitudes looks like a tough call to me, even in the family with the two car option.
Ms Banana's Fiesta 1.4 diesel is 11 years old but has only done 40K or so. It's used more often than not for an 8 mile round trip commute in town, with the occasional 75 mile run to Suffolk. It's constantly struggling to regenerate its DPF.
65bhp will be more than enough for town work. 100 miles range is sufficient for 90% of uses: for everything else we have an E220d Estate.
We are the target audience. Will await news on £, but will look out for the when we're on holiday in France in 2 weeks time.
And what will the real world range be? 100 miles?
This is why the Chinese will become the worlds largest car maker in the not too distant future. Given they own most of the Lithium refining capacity, they can control the market to ensure their products will always be cheaper.
The pro's of it are
a) Low running costs as will be charged at home or at work (cheap or free)
b) Warranty for peace of mind & no financial shock
c) Fixed monthly cost as on PCP or similar
So, you can know exactly what it costs to run and you can work out what it will save in fuel
Probably will make sense for 20 to 30 miles daily commute each way, reasonable distance for the savings to pay back the cost
In reality it might make financial sense for me, but as it is clearly a hateful nasty box on wheels I won't have one and just pay more to drive something I like. But there are plenty of people out there who don't care what they drive as long as it is cheap and reliable
My actual solution is a 20 year old Jag which does 20 mpg and drops a financial shock on me once or twice a year. On the other side it is zero depreciation (possibly mild appreciation) and no finance payments.
Unless of course you live somewhere where there’s a ULEZ that wouldn’t let the shed in.
At the quick glance I've taken above, the Spring could knock these out of the park as the obvious commuter/city car choice.
Based on your argument a Duster knocks a Range Rover out of the park as an SUV of choice.
That said, I think this will be the perfect commuter car for loads of cost and environmentally conscious people. The range and power are not issues for its intended purpose or market.
Unless of course you live somewhere where there’s a ULEZ that wouldn’t let the shed in.
The Dacia would be much cheaper to run too.
Ms Banana's Fiesta 1.4 diesel is 11 years old but has only done 40K or so. It's used more often than not for an 8 mile round trip commute in town, with the occasional 75 mile run to Suffolk. It's constantly struggling to regenerate its DPF.
65bhp will be more than enough for town work. 100 miles range is sufficient for 90% of uses: for everything else we have an E220d Estate.
We are the target audience. Will await news on £, but will look out for the when we're on holiday in France in 2 weeks time.
I spotted a couple in Italy a few weeks ago whilst on holiday. They look fine.
Cheap to buy, very cheap to run, fit for purpose. Basically, the point where a car takes on appliance status, next to a washing machine and a hoover.
There's a fascinating quote from Dacia CEO, Dennis Le Vot. “if we did [the Spring] again, I would cut the battery in half because the average Spring in Europe covers just 10 miles per day".
Unless of course you live somewhere where there’s a ULEZ that wouldn’t let the shed in.
The Dacia would be much cheaper to run too.
Noted on the shed vs new, but £12k or whatever the price differential ends up being pays for a lot of “semi regular issues” (and if you get something really boring, I don’t even think the issues would be especially regular).
Its kind of honest, nobody is going to really replace their main car except maybe older folk who dont do longer journies perhaps, it will make sense for those doing a short commute or just needing something as a local runabout.
I could manage with this for the vast bulk of my usage.
Would have to go with the "Extreme" version as I expect 44 bhp would piss me off very, very quickly (slowly ?) but for its use I think that would be fine, not all EV's have to be able to re-arrange your internal organs.
This is getting more towards the kind of thing that will drive mass adoption of EV's, with a low entry price it is feasible for a lot of folk, though the performance and range specs are perhaps just a little too meagre, 20k with 100 bhp and a bit more range and it suddenly gets a bit more attractive.
And the Chinese manufacturers will nail it, currently all the western ones seem to be fixated by massive SUV's and even the lower end stuff is 35k plus, a basic ID3 is 36 grand or more. a Leaf starts at 30k as does a zoe.
Need something in the 18 to 22k price range with a bit more on offer than this.
There's a fascinating quote from Dacia CEO, Dennis Le Vot. “if we did [the Spring] again, I would cut the battery in half because the average Spring in Europe covers just 10 miles per day".
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