That’s why cars like the Kia EV6 also get a lot of praise and spark a lot of enthusiasm. Kia and Hyundai have been on a steady growth pattern in the last 20 years or so. They have been offering a lot of very good cars for decent prices. With the new, electric era just around the corner, the automotive market is curious to see how they will handle it. The answer to their potential success lies in the new E-GMP platform they developed.

Electric-Focused Platform

E-GMP stands for Electric Global Modular Platform and it was developed from the ground up to house electric models, and to be modular. That means it will underpin all the Battery Electric Vehicles to come from Seoul from now on. The first effort from Kia comes in the shape of the EV6, a car that, in theory, has all the tech you could possibly need, at a decent price.

That last bit is important because customers have been getting used to great deals from their Kia dealers. They also come with some of the longest warranties in the industry and that shows that Kia stands behind its products. At the same time, the EV6 is not necessarily cheap, at least according to Kia standards. The pricing is starting at $56,000 and while in the grand scheme of things it doesn’t seem like that much, makes the EV6 the most expensive car you can get from the South Korean manufacturer right now. And that’s the starting price! So, is it worth the money?

Great Looks With Higher Price Tags

The EV6 definitely has the looks for that price tag. It’s the first Kia to step away from what has become a trademark feature on the South Korean models lately: the Tiger Nose. Understandably so since the front end of the EV6 had to be streamlined and blocked out to make the car as aerodynamic as possible.

The front fascia is dominated by the headlights and their V-shaped LED daytime running lights, along with the noticeable creases on the hood. The nose is very slanted and the hood is rather big, making the whole fron- end of the car seem like it’s somehow an arrowhead pointing down. Round the back, you can’t help but notice the lightbar spreading from side to side and a somewhat familiar design, if you’ve ever seen an Aston Martin DBX.

In the metal, the EV6 feels a lot bigger than it does in the pictures. The proportions of the car make it seem smaller than it actually is. It’s nearly 1.9-meters wide and 4.7 meters long, making it an easy crossover, not a sporty hatchback as you might’ve thought at first.

It’s the length that takes you by surprise the most. Thanks to the modular, electric platform it is built on, the EV6 has its wheels positioned towards the extremities of the car’s body, offering an ample wheelbase of 2.9-meters. That’s along the lines of what a 5 Series will get you, but with a lot more room inside.

Step inside and you’ll notice that there’s ample room for just about anything, with one exception: headroom. For some reason, the Kia designers decided to somehow flatten the greenhouse of the EV6. Even though it’s just 1.550 millimeters tall, its ground clearance of 160 millimeters somehow squishes the proportions of the car. From the outside you may miss it. Sure, the keen-eyed will notice the small windows, but you really take it in once you step inside.

Up front and in the back, the headroom is rather limited, if you’re over 6-ft tall. That’s surprising, to say the least. Luckily, there’s ample knee room and those in the back can recline their seats, to get a bit more headroom. If you’re on the driver’s seat though and you’re tall, you might be looking at the sun visor most of the time while driving.

The floor is flat though and favors using it to the max. Up front, the center armrest has a floating design and plenty of storage spaces for everything you could imagine. There are also no less than four charging outlets (including the 12V socket) and you could probably shove a small backpack in the storage space under the armrest.

Plenty Of Tech And Good Quality Materials

As for the materials used, the perceived quality in this car will vary depending on the way you spec it. Our tester was a GT-Line model with all the bells and whistles. Those included perforated leather and a soft-touch plastic on the dash and center armrest. The door panels also feature soft-touch plastics on the top half and a cheaper alternative towards the bottom. The dashboard is where things become even more interesting. That’s because it is dominated by two 12.3-inch screens that come as standard on all EV6 models. They are, as you might be suspecting, used as an instrument cluster and infotainment system. Both have great graphics, high resolutions and work flawlessly. You get Android Auto and Apple Carplay as standard.

Inside the right-side screen you’ll find a menu for the electric gremlins under the sheet metal, letting you know that there’s a massive battery hidden in the floor along with one or two electric motors powering the car.

Depending on what you choose, the EV6 can be had in a number of guises. There are two rear-wheel drive versions and two all-wheel drive alternatives, the latter coming with a dual-motor setup, one for each axle. You can also choose from two different battery sizes: 58 kWh and 77 kWh. Our tester was the RWD Long Range version. That means it had one electric motor, on the rear axle, good for 228 HP and 350 Nm of torque, quenching its thirst for electrons from a 77-kWh battery.

310 Miles on EPA Rating

According to the EPA, this version of the EV6 should have a range of 310 miles on a single charge (500 kilometers), which is incredibly impressive. If you do the math, it will add up to 4 miles/kWh. However, real life scenarios will differ and really put this claim to the test. During my time with the car, the results were wildly different but there were also some elements working against the EV6.

As we all know, electric cars really don’t fare well in cold weather. Studies have shown that the range in the cold can drop by 10 to 40%, or even more. Unfortunately for me, while I had the car for testing purposes, the exterior temperature didn’t go over 5 degrees Celsius. Most of the time, they were actually negative, around -2 degrees. Furthermore, the car was wearing winter tires and 20” wheels, which are known to be less efficient that the 19” ones on which WLTP and EPA tests are carried out.

That said, the overall energy consumption recorded by the car was around 21 kWh/100 km covered. Around town, the range was about 370 kilometers while on the highway, at an average speed of 130 km/h, that range dropped to around 300 kilometers. I should mention that I did not cut any creature comforts either, keeping the AC at 21 degrees Celsius and using only Comfort mode at all times. Eco or ECO+ modes might’ve helped but I wasn’t chasing the best possible result but more along the lines of a worst-case scenario. It’s better to arrive at a charger with more range than you expected than the other way around.

Speaking of which, the EV6 does have a massive plus on its side when it comes to charging: the 800V architecture. That means that it can take up more power from the charger than most of its rivals, the maximum being 350 kW. If you can find a charger that powerful, you should replenish your battery (up to 80%) in some 18 minutes. Shockingly fast!

The problem is, such powerful chargers are scarce and you rarely come across one. Most of the DC CCS chargers are 50 kW or 75 kW units and that means the charging process will take a lot longer. During my time with the car, I used a 75 kW charger twice, getting the battery from 40% to 80% on both occasions in about 20 minutes.

Driving Experience

Once charged up, you can set off to see how this car drives and it’s not bad at all. Kia says it was developed to deliver a sportier ride than its Hyundai Ioniq 5 brother and, even though I didn’t get to drive that car yet, the EV6 felt rather well damped and planted on the road.

The suspension is one of the highlights, absorbing bumps and imperfections rather well. That’s one of the faults that many electric cars have to this day, especially those developed on platforms that were initially designed for ICE models. The added weight of the batteries makes the ride harsh and unsettled. That was not the case with the EV6 and you could tell it was created from the ground up to be electric. The dampening was perfectly set up, and the car keeps its composure in most situations, remaining quiet over uneven surfaces too.

Don’t think of it as a sports car though, at least not in this Long Range, RWD guise. Sure, you can get the back to slide out as the instant torque will spin up the rear wheels, but we’re still talking about a car that weighs 2 tons and has just 228 HP. Therefore, the 0-100 km/h sprint takes 7.3 seconds and the top speed is limited to 185 km/h.

Even so, in Sport mode, the EV6 feels lively. The steering is direct but lacks feedback, but the rear end is bursting at the seams with torque, every time you even look in the direction of the go-faster pedal. The weight is well distributed over both axles and, even though it doesn’t have adaptive dampers, the car’s weight is kept well under control. The ride is a bit on the harsher side of things but I wouldn’t necessarily call it stiff.

And while driving it fast definitely will get your heartbeat going, it’s when you relax behind the wheel that you actually get to enjoy the EV6. The new-age EV comes with a lot of tech on-board to help you out, from adaptive regenerative braking (which works wonderful) to driving aides of all sorts. You can get a steering assistant, highway driving assistant and you’re kept safe at all times by the blind-spot monitoring system that uses the cameras in the side mirrors to warn you if there’s anything behind you. Once you turn on the blinker, a live feed from the cameras pops up un your dash.

The highway assistant isn’t bad either. It will actually help you switch lanes. Once you turn the adaptive cruise control on, along with the lane keeping assistant, the HDA will be on too. Therefore, once you signal a lane switch, the car will actually turn for you ever so slightly. You’ll still be better off doing it yourself, but it’s a nice gesture from Kia to include this system in the mix.

Another nice bit of tech the EV6 has is Vehicle to Load. This technology is considered a sort of essential kit by many car makers in the industry. That’s because it allows the car to feed energy into the grid, not just the other way around. In the future, when electric cars will be dominating the scene, this tech could help stabilize grids when they are under heavy stress. Furthermore, you can also use this tech to power up various appliances or even another electric car, albeit only with up to 3.5 kW.

Conclusion

At the end of the day, the EV6 delivers on all fronts and then some. It’s a capable, comfortable and sometimes sporty car that has all the tech it needs to become a best-seller. It is, without a doubt, one of the best electric cars out there today, faults included. The only issue some people will find with it will be the price and that’s only because this is a Kia. Overall though, it’s worth the money, if you’re interested in a cutting-edge electric model.

The post TEST DRIVE: KIA EV6 – One Of The Best Electric Crossovers appeared first on EVGLOBE - News on Electric Vehicles and Hybrids.

The new BMW iX therefore breaks loose from the confinements set by the old models and tries to enter a new age with a completely different and bold take. It’s different and it knows that, owns up to it and tries to offer more in a simplified package. The iX then shouldn’t be judged by the old books because this design didn’t happen by accident. It was a conscious decision, like just about any other thing about this car. Nothing was left to chance. 

A Unique And Bold Exterior Design

The exterior design is, without a doubt, the most controversial bit. The front-end is dominated by a huge set of grilles that are not only there to shock, but also with a practical reason. Behind them you’ll find a lot of technology meant to keep you safe and improve the driving assistance systems. The grille houses a large radar, along with other sensors and a self-cleaning camera. Furthermore, BMW is aware of the kidney’s sheer size and decided to cover it in a self-healing polymer cover. If the grille gets chips from the road in it, all you have to do is heat it up and it’s going to look brand new.

There is also a new headlight design without the trademark corona lights. Sure, they still have Daytime Running Light, but they have a completely new shape and they do a little dance when the car ‘wakes up’. But apart from those two elements, the front-end is as simple as it gets. The lines are clear cut and everything is as non-complicated as possible with a simple goal in mind: to make this car as aerodynamic as possible. The same approach can be seen on the sides.

As soon as you take a step back, you notice that the car’s shape is monolithic, as if it was made of a single block. The door handles are now flush with the doors, the side mirrors have been sculpted in the wind tunnel and there are few to none character lines on the doors. The same goes for the rear-end, where everything was simplified and the taillights are now just two slim, horizontal bars.

Minimalistic Cabin

For old-school fans of BMW, the shock gets even bigger the moment you step inside. That’s because there’s nothing familiar welcoming you inside the iX. Everything is new and, staying true to its trailblazer name, lots of the iX’s design features will be adopted by future BMW models: From the simplified layout of the dashboard, to the screens, hexagonal steering wheel and sustainable materials.

It may take you a while to get used to the new layout but one thing’s for certain: the interior of the iX feels like it’s coming from a completely different era. Minimalism has been adopted on a wide scale, like the trend in the industry seems to dictate, and a lot of buttons have disappeared in the process.

All that’s left in that regard is to be found in the area around the rotary iDrive controller, now made entirely of crystal. The buttons themselves are touch-sensitive and use a sensor hidden beneath the wood veneer. Crystal is also used for other buttons on the center console, like the volume knob, start button and drive selector. The same goes for the buttons that allow you to adjust your seat which have been moved on the door panel and look incredibly luxurious.

In a nutshell, the entire cabin of the BMW iX has a luxurious feel, with high-quality finishes and materials. Even though the upholstery in this car wasn’t leather (that’s still an option) I couldn’t say the textile material didn’t feel premium enough. One wonder I do have though is how this material, that feels a lot like Alcantara, will hold up over the years. That remains to be seen.

The screens appear to float when viewed from the driver’s perspective. The passenger gets to see the feet holding them up, but from behind the wheel you could be fooled. It’s a similar solution to the one introduced on the i3. The two separate screens are melted together in a single, curved display, that’s one of the biggest you can find in a production car today. And yet, they don’t feel overwhelming.

Both the instrument cluster and the iDrive screen feature high resolution, smooth animations and completely new designs. The BMW iX comes with three driving modes, two being fixed in terms of design while the third, Personal, allows you to configure just about anything about the screens and interior lighting. The instrument cluster has three different layouts to display various information. The one I found most useful displayed the range based on your current driving style. That window also showed you the maximum and minimum range you could expect, adjusted according to your state of charge.

Right in front of the instrument cluster, you’ll find the new hexagonal steering wheel, a bold and yet very interesting choice from BMW. I found it to be the perfect size but I wasn’t too happy with the fact that there’s no on-board computer button on the left-hand stalk. Its role has been replaced by a button positioned on the right-hand spoke of the steering wheel. Once again, a perfectly good button was eliminated in the quest to adhere to the minimalist trend we’re all witnessing today.

And there are other areas where the ergonomics are suffering because of it. Remember those fancy crystal seat-adjusting buttons? Well, whereas in the past you could adjust just about any direction on your seat using those buttons alone, now you have to press a shortcut on the door panel in order to access a ‘seat menu’ in the iDrive screen and from there you can make the necessary adjustments. You need to take several extra steps in order to adjust a simple thing like lumbar support, for example. And don’t get me even started on the climate control menu. What used to be a very simple and intuitive panel is now an overly complicated menu shown on the center display. Luckily, the car has a very efficient “Auto Mode” that does everything for you so you’ll only have to adjust the temperature.

Furthermore, you could use the new Intelligent Personal Assistant that’s better than ever. Since most buttons simply vanished and since the AI system understands more free speech, I ended up using it a lot more.

Lots Of Cabin Space

There’s also ample room inside the iX, thanks to the unique platform it rides on. At its core, the BMW iX uses a bespoke architecture. There’s no transmission tunnel which frees up a lot of room in the back where you could easily sit three adults. If the exterior dimensions of the car would make it comparable to the X5, there’s a lot more room inside. The boot is a bit problematic though, as it only has 500 liters of space, 160 less than on the main rival this car has, the Audi E-tron.

One final complaint would be the front seats. For a flagship, they are nowhere near as configurable and adjustable as they should be. There’s no extendable thigh support for those with longer legs, no adjustable headrest and you have a plastic opening in them that houses a speaker. Sure, it helps with the quality of the sound provided by Bowers & WiIlkins but, you might want to make sure you have a tall enough passenger. That’s because, under hard acceleration, they might be taken by surprise and hit their head rather hard on that piece of plastic, something that was oddly overlooked.

Insane Performance

Those hard accelerations are not hard to come by. As a matter of fact, the throttle response of this car can be quite brutal in Sport mode. Just the slightest tap of the go faster pedal simply shoots the BMW iX xDrive50 forward with an agility worthy of the electric drivetrain hiding under the sheet metal.

Speaking of which, the BMW iX in xDrive50 guise is currently the most powerful iX you can buy, until the iX M60 comes out. It uses two electric motors, one for each axle, that can deliver a total of 523 PS and 765 Nm of torque. Those numbers are very close to what the old 4.4-liter V8 twin-turbo mill used to offer on M50i models. That makes understanding the naming convention a lot easier, right?

According to BMW, the all-wheel drive character of the car and the power it has should allow it to do 0-62 mph in 4.6 seconds, but the seam of my pants was telling me that was a conservative estimate. It’s a good enough result for a car that tips the scale at exactly 2.5 tons. Some 600 kilos of that weight went into the 105 kWh battery hidden in the floor. According to BMW, that battery should allow you to cover up to 600 kilometers with a single charge. That wasn’t exactly what I got.

Around town, the average energy consumption recorded by the car was 29 kWh/100 km, adding up to a real-life range of about 350 kilometers with a full charge. Outside the city limits, on a series of B-roads, with spirited driving, that figure dropped to 24 kWh/100 km while on the highway it went back up to 28 kWh/100 km, for a range of 450 km and 375 km respectively. Mind you , the exterior temperatures were rather low, close to 10 degrees Celsius most of the time, while the car was running on winter tires. Consider these as worst case scenario results.

But if there’s one thing the iX does great, that’s definitely the refinement and comfort offered by the suspension. Air suspension, that is, as our tester was fitted with this optional feature. And it’s worth all the pennies as it managed to simply iron out every single crease in the road, while not making a peep. The ride quality in the iX is simply stunning, the most comfortable I’ve ever experienced in an electric vehicle. 

There’s also virtually no road noise either. You see, that streamlined body of the iX is not only good for making it more aerodynamic but also for making sure the road noise is kept in check. It works brilliantly, even at highway speeds, the atmosphere inside the BMW iX remaining serene. Couple that with the brilliant 4D sound system from B&W and you get a true lounge feeling while riding in this car.

Nearly Perfect

However, at the end of the day, the BMW iX is still a Bavarian product. Therefore, it has to offer a good driving experience too, not just a comfy one. Unfortunately, the weight of the car can be felt throughout its movements whenever you’re driving it in a sportier manner. After all, we’re talking about the heaviest car BMW is making today and even though the weight is admirably kept in check, there’s still some roll and lean into the corners. That’s inevitable at the end of the day. 

Nevertheless, I wouldn’t say the iX is a disappointment in this regard. Far from it, but you do have to really push it in order to squeeze the most out of this chassis. The electric SUV oversteers and can behave like a BMW with a rear-biased all-wheel-drive system, but in order to get there, you really have to get over the initial lean in a tight corner. Most people will be scared midway through the transition, but, if you push it just a little bit harder, you can really squeeze all the iX has to offer. Overall, the iX remains composed and predictable in all situations, including when it is grabbed by the scruff of its neck and thrown around.

That means this is one of the most capable electric SUVs I’ve tested over the last few years. Sure, it does have some issues but they are just minor niggles in the grand scheme of things. The BMW iX  compensates with the most refined ride I have experienced in an electric model, a luxurious cabin, incredibly quiet atmosphere, lots of technology and, when needed, a rush of adrenaline thanks to your right foot. 

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They didn’t just include the Mustang name in the whole grand scheme of things, they kinda made it a brand of its own. Look at the Mustang Mach-E from the outside and you’ll notice that there’s not one single blue oval on it. Is Ford trying to hide its own logo from the car? No, not really. They are just trying to emphasize the fact that this car is less Ford and more Mustang, if that makes any sense.

In all fairness, the Mustang became a brand over more than 50 years since the original Pony car was unveiled. It managed to fascinate enough people that it is now one of the most widely known names in the industry. Ask Ford about that and they’ll say other reasons were behind their choice. According to the official press release, the Mustang name was chosen because the new EV SUV shares some of the characteristics that made the pony car a success: it’s bold, fun to drive and good to look at among other things. Is it though?

A Mustang-Like Design

Some of you might remember the 2011 Ford Focus electric model that was so bad it was only sold in limited numbers. So nobody really remembers it. It did exist though and showed Ford that they have to change their strategy if they want to make a good EV. And they did. They created a new platform that is now being used for electric vehicles alone. This Global Electrified Platform 1 is actually based on the same underpinnings they used for the likes of the Ford Focus, Ford Kuga and other such models. It is, however, heavily reworked, to adapt to the needs of an EV and it will be used on more than just the Mach-E later down the line.

Even so, the exterior design is not necessarily influenced by it. However, Ford had to keep the name of the final product in mind and they decided to give the SUV a Mustang-like design. Up front you’ll notice a long hood and a huge, blocked-out grille dominating the front fascia, with a digital Mustang embedded in it. I’m saying ‘digital Mustang’ because the traditional logo we all know now has horizontal lines through it, to symbolize the ‘digital era’ we live in.

Even though it doesn’t have the traditional layout you’d find on a regular Mustang, you can’t help but tell that this car is part of the same family. Kudos to the designers who managed to pen an aerodynamic body with a very familiar feel to it. Maybe the headlamps have something to do with it too, as they do resemble to some extent the ones on the fastback coupe models.

From the sides, the massive body holds tall windows to make sure the occupants never suffer from claustrophobia. The tall body also means you’ll have to get the biggest wheels to fill the wells. 18” wheels are the bare minimum, but we’d recommend going even bigger if you can afford it.

It is also from the side that you’ll notice another couple of interesting tricks. For example, the roofline reminds us of the fastback lines of the Coupe Mustang. However, the roof sits in between the pillars, a bit taller, but dressed in black, to trick the eye. And it works. From the sides, you’d think this is a Coupe SUV but in reality, there’s ample room in the back for even taller adults.

Round the back, the tri-bar taillights tell you only one thing: this may be an SUV, but it has Mustang written all over it. Overall, the entire design team deserves a raise for how this car turned out. As for the whole ‘SUV’ definition, some might have a point to make here. The tall body of the car definitely works in the favor of that definition. The high riding position also makes you feel like you’re in command all the time, with a good view of the road ahead. However, with only 14 centimeters of ground clearance, this can hardly qualify as an SUV. It’s more of a crossover overall.

Tons Of Tech Inside The Cabin

From the inside though, you couldn’t really tell. As I mentioned before, the driver’s seat is positioned rather high, mainly because of the hefty batteries hidden in the floor. But there’s more to it than just that. The moment you get in, you’ll notice a few interesting design choices. While Ford will adamantly deny it, the infotainment screen definitely seems to have been ‘inspired’ by the rivals over at Tesla. Regardless of the model, you get the same, portrait-style 15.5-inch screen right in the middle of the dash.

It’s a good-looking screen, with a lot of technology in it, a high resolution and fast response time. It hosts the new SYNC 4 system and has a lot of tricks up its sleeve but it won’t be for everyone. According to Ford, the physical volume button you’ll see at the bottom of the screen was a must have for the customers that tested the car before being approved and I have to say I found it very comforting to use.

The screen is basically split in two: the upper half is what you would normally find on an infotainment screen while the bottom works more like a HVAC/shortcut/multimedia control section. It’s well thought out for the most part, but it does have a large number of submenus, since all physical buttons have been eliminated.

Right in front of the driver, behind the steering wheel, there’s an additional 10” screen. This one is meant to be an instrument cluster, showing you the speed, battery state of charge and some other features of the car while on the road. It may be slim but it is very useful.

Ergonomically, everything is well set up and within reach. The seats are comfortable, the materials used inside of good quality and I’d even dare say above the segment’s average. There are smart choices everywhere, and even though you might not be treated to the best wood and leather trims, there’s a good mix of different materials inside. From the Bang & Olufsen sound system that looks like a soundbar was embedded into the dashboard, to the panoramic roof or the leatherette upholstery, it’s all nice and comfy inside.

There’s ample room in all seats, including in the back, more so than in the VW iD.4 for example and you get a better tactile sensation on the door panels, with better plastic being used in the Ford overall.

On the technology side of things, Ford didn’t play around. The car is delivered with only one physical key. That’s a deliberate choice, as the blue oval company wants you to actually use its new app for the car (FordPass Connect) that allows you to turn your smartphone into a key. And that’s not all, as you can control a number of the car’s features, from a distance, via your phone.

But what if you run out of battery? The driver’s door has an old-school numpad on it and you can set an access code that will unlock the car. Furthermore, once inside, you can turn the car on by using a PIN that you can set for the infotainment system. This way, you don’t even need your phone or your key to drive this car.  And that’s all on top of the usual tech bits like remove software updates, a vast amount of driving aides and so on.

Two Battery Packs

Since this is an electric car, every owner will focus on the performance and especially the range the Mach-E can offer. To that end, the new all-electric car has a number of choices for your needs. There are two batteries available: a 68 kWh one and an 88-kWh alternative. Those are the usable amounts of power you can store, the total energy capacity being 78 and 99 kWh, respectively. They can be coupled with either one or two electric motors, if you want all wheel drive.

The cheapest you can get is the 68 kWh battery combined with a 269 HP electric motor on the rear axle. There’s also a 294 HP alternative with RWD and a 351 HP model with all wheel drive. The latter only comes with the 88 kWh battery and was the one we tested. If you think that’s not enough, there’s also a Mach-E GT choice out there, with 487 HP.

Our tester had a range claim, according to the WLTP testing procedure of 540 kilometers (335 miles), which is pretty darn impressive. Does the Mach-E actually reach those values? Yes. And it can do even better. During my time with the car, I managed an average energy consumption of 17 kWh/100 km covered, adding up to a range of 517 kilometers (321 miles) around town. That was without cutting any of the creature comforts I needed and it was done in 40-degree Celsius weather.

Outside the city limits, that average dropped to 16 kWh/100 km on B-roads and went back up to 18 kWh/100 km on the highway. That’s between 550 and 488 km (341 and 303 miles) with a single charge. Those are some of the best results I’ve seen in an electric car. Charging the battery can be achieved using a charger of up to 150 kW, meaning you should get up to 80% charge in 43 minutes.

But how does the car handle during all these miles? In one word: better than expected. The two electric motors are set up in such a way that the rear one does most of the work. Therefore, when you drive the car, it mostly feels like a rear-wheel drive model. Start throwing it into a series of twisty bits and it pushes the rear end outwards with ease, making you smile in the process. The front end will chip in from time to time, especially when launching it from standstill, as the Mach-E in this AWD, 351 HP configuration will do 0-100 km/h in 5.1 seconds. Not bad for a 2-ton car.

There is a bit of body roll because of that weight and it does show at higher speeds. Luckily, most of it is located in between the axles and right beneath you. According to Ford, the Mach-E’s center of gravity is just half an inch higher than in a ‘regular’ Mustang which is, of course, good news for enthusiastic drivers.

And the Mach-E is actually one of the lighter cars in this segment. Even so, that weight works against it if you want to drive in a sporty fashion. The rather narrow tires start to squeal quite a lot at higher speeds in corners and the front-end grip is not exactly phenomenal. Therefore, you can understeer if you’re not careful.

Other than being thoughtful with your right foot, the Mustang Mach-E is actually quite enjoyable to drive. You get three driving modes, which have different names, depending on where you live. The sportiest one, Untamed, increases the amount of fake noise you get through the speakers, simulating a sort of digital V8, if you will. It’s quite weird, to be frank, because the frequency of the burble definitely reminded me of a V8 but it was all synthetic at the same time.

Straight line acceleration and pedal response are just as you would expect from an EV: immediate. If you press the go-faster pedal to the metal, no matter in which driving mode you’re in, the Mustang Mach-E jumps ahead so you might want to make sure you have enough room to go.

The ride is a bit less refined than ideal. Over smaller bumps the dampers feel a bit overwhelmed by the weight of the car and there are noticeable sounds making their way into the cabin. The whole suspension seems like it’s working overtime to keep you comfy and yet it falls short every time. If you’re driving over poor roads, it becomes even more noticeable how much the McPherson setup up front is struggling to keep everything down to a hum.

Luckily, at higher speeds, things get a bit better. The overall sound isolation of the car is good, maybe a bit better than the class average and the suspension seems to handle things a bit better too.

Sportier Than Its Main Rivals

Leaving the name aside, the Mach-E doesn’t drive as good as the car it is sharing its name with, but you’d be a fool to expect that considering how different they are. Nevertheless, the electric SUV does drive like the electric Mustang it is claiming to be, staying true to its origins. It’s definitely sportier than the VW iD.4 or the Skoda Enyaq, two of its main rivals. Chip in the spacious cabin and one of the best autonomies out there and you get a very good overall mix that’s already a best-seller in a number of markets.

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That’s why the Stuttgart-based manufacturer decided to launch the EQ sub-brand, a move showing the world what their engineers can up with on short notice. The EQ sub-brand is currently made up of two different types of cars: those built on bespoke platforms and those sharing their underpinnings with regular models.

Therefore, models like the EQS will have superior specs in every way as the design and engineering was done from the ground up for it to be an electric car. At the other end of the spectrum, you’ll find models like the EQA, an electric alternative to those looking for a cleaner version of the already quite popular Mercedes-Benz GLA.

The Electric GLA

Therefore, the EQA is nothing more than the electric version of the GLA and you can tell from the moment you look at it. Sure, there are some key differences between the two, design wise, but overall, the proportions are identical. Mercedes did try to separate them and, in all fairness, they succeeded, as it will be impossible to mix the two up if you look at them from the front or the back.

The front fascia of the EQA has a massive ‘grille’ that dominates the entire front end. It’s blocked out and has a lightbar at the top, connecting the headlamps which also feature LEDs all around, including for the DRLs. The blocked-out grille was necessary, in order to improve the aerodynamic coefficient of the car which now sits at 0.28 cd. Overall, though, the shape of the grille is different and the headlamps as well, making the EQA stand out compared to its dirtier brother.

The side profile shows no meaningful changes apart from a badge here and there and a set of aerodynamically-optimized wheels. Move to the back though and you’ll notice a thing or two. The light-bar motif continues here too, with an LED strip going from one side of the car to the other.

The taillights themselves have a familiar feel, resembling what you see on other Mercedes-Benz models in the range today. The lack of a tailpipe won’t be such an issue as a lot of Mercedes cars right now are lacking those elements too, keeping them hidden behind the bumper. Size-wise the two cars are basically identical too from the outside, staying within the limits set by the segment.

A Familiar Look Inside

Step inside and the same theme continues. Nothing is changed apart from the seating position. Everything looks the same, the materials used are of the same quality and the build is just as good as in the regular GLA. However, since the EQA has to fit a sizeable amount of battery cells in the floor, there are some noticeable differences in terms of room and seating.

The front seats seem to be a bit higher than in the GLA while the rear ones remain fixed to the same height. That changes the way you perceive the car and its center of gravity when driving, but we’ll dissect that later on. In the back though, the main difference you’ll notice is that your legs will form a higher angle with the seat, possibly leading to back pain on longer trips. The elevated position of your thighs in the back shows exactly why modular platforms might not work for every car.

Other than that, the same MBUX infotainment system awaits once you’re inside the car, with its usual impressive resolution, flawless graphics and smooth transitions. The build quality is good but not necessarily on par with more expensive Mercedes models. There is a lack of perceived quality on the door panels, for example, and on the top of the dashboard.

Sure, the fit is impeccable but better plastics could’ve been used in key areas. It just doesn’t feel like a proper Mercedes-Benz overall and that goes for the leather used on the seats as well, which seems like a distant cousin of what the German giant used to put in its cars some time ago.

And this is where the EQA suffers, quite a lot, especially because of the increasing variety you get in this segment today. Normally, you wouldn’t compare the fit and finish of a Volkswagen with a Mercedes-Benz, regardless of the segment. And yet, having recently tested the iD.4 too, these two cars felt very similar in build quality and I would even dare say the VW felt a bit better inside. And when you compare the specs, the story gets even worse for the EQA.

The all-electric Mercedes-Benz comes with three powertrain choices. The entry-level EQA 250 is the one we had for testing purposes and it uses a 190 HP motor on the front axle alone, capable of delivering 375 Nm as well. There’s also an EQA 300 4Matic and an EQA 350 4Matic, both cars using a dual-motor setup for all-wheel drive and with more power (228 HP and 292 HP respectively).

What’s The Electric Range?

Yet regardless of the model, you get the same battery under the floor, which adds up to 66.5 kWh in total. As you can imagine, the estimated range will drop on the more powerful cars but our tester had a shiny window sticker saying it will happily do 426 kilometers on a full charge, according to the WLTP testing procedure. Did it, though?

Well, as you might be aware, when it comes to electric cars and their range, the numbers you get tend to be heavily influenced by a number of factors, the most important being the weather. During my time with the car, the weather was absolutely perfect, with an average temperature of 25 degrees Celsius.

In those conditions, I saw the energy consumption of the EQA stay around the 20-kWh range per 100 kilometers covered around town. Mind you the AC was always on, because it was getting kind-of hot at times and I only used comfort mode. The average speed recorded was 20 km/h. That means your average range in these conditions would add up to about 330 kilometers with a full charge (205 miles). Quite off from the claimed figures and this was in almost perfect weather.

Outside the city limits, on B-roads, the energy consumption went down, as expected. At an average speed of 70 km/h (44 mph) the values shown by the trip computer indicated an average energy consumption of 14.5 kWh/100 km. That means you could theoretically cover up to 458 kilometers (285 miles) with a single charge.

Last, but not least, the highway test showed an average energy consumption of 22 kWh/100 km which means you could cover up to 300 kilometers (186 miles) with a full battery, at an average speed of 120 km/h (75 mph).

Therefore, not exactly the claimed figures Mercedes says the EQA should reach, but I guess that was to be expected. However, the testing conditions were perfect for such experiments and I’m willing to bet you’ll struggle to get better numbers without resorting to using Eco mode and hypermiling the hell out of the car. All our tests are carried out using Comfort mode and driving the car just like you would any other ICE model.

The Driving Experience

Driving the EQA for so long reveals a few other cracks in the immaculate image a Mercedes-Benz usually comes with. The ride, for example, gets a bit busy over uneven roads and even noisy at times. That’s all due to the extra weight the EQA has to carry compared to a GLA. The suspension had to be reinforced and it causes the car to feel sluggish over uneven surfaces and rough pavement. It has a tendency to lean, as well, and if you want to drive this car fast, you better be ready for some understeer.

It keeps its composure well enough in terms of body motion whenever you want to tackle a corner with a bit more speed. That’s mainly because that big chunk of weight (aka the batteries) is kept low and close to the ground. To put things into perspective, the battery pack alone weighs 480 kilos.

Riding on eco tires (Bridgestone Turanza T005) reduces the grip available on all four wheels and that leads to squealing in a number of scenarios and a lack of traction that can be observed more often than not. That extra weight actually pushes you outside the corner and that, in turn, leads to understeer.

The instant torque also gives the front end a lot to deal with under hard, sudden acceleration, with a small yellow light blinking in the instrument cluster to remind you to tone it down. You’ll easily break traction on the front end in the EQA 250 which is why you might want to consider the other two powertrains if you’re interested in such an EV, as their dual-motor configurations will surely allow you to put the power down better.

Even so, while it may not be the most dynamic EV out there, there is still a hint of Mercedes-Benz in the EQA. It is refined most of the time and it has very good sound insulation on board, which comes in handy especially since there’s no engine droning noise to keep you ‘entertained’ be it in the city or outside its limits. On the highway, even at 84 mph (135 km/h) the cabin was rather quiet for a car in this segment.

Get back into town and you’ll find the compact size of the EQA will help out when navigating busy city streets. Since its overall shape is close to a rectangle and you have tall windows on every side, driving this car around town is a very easy thing to do. You also get interesting tech to help you out, such as the Augmented Reality navigation system, that points you in the right direction or the stop light recognition software that turns on the front camera every time you approach a red light, just to make sure you don’t miss it.

Another bit of tech that I found very useful was the adaptive regenerative braking. You have two paddles on the steering wheel, allowing you to adjust the amount of regenerative braking the car uses on the fly. Flick the one on the right and you can cruise for as long as you want as the car can actually coast, if you so desire.

Flick the paddle on the left and the car begins to recuperate more energy while also slowing you down more. After a while of playing with these paddles you’ll find that the brake pedal will rarely be used, albeit you’ll still have to press it since the EQA doesn’t come to a complete stop using just regenerative braking.

If you don’t want to use this ‘manual’ mode there’s also an Auto setting for the regenerative braking which takes into account the GPS positioning, road ahead and other traffic indicators, to adjust the braking itself. It’s quite good in practice.

A Good EV With Room For Improvement

Overall, the Mercedes-Benz EQA is a mixed bag at the end of the day. There are definitely some positive things to mention but also a lot of places where improvements could’ve been done. And people have certain expectations from brands like Mercedes-Benz, expectations that might be better met on cars like the Volkswagen iD.4 at the end of the day, for an even better price. Sure, the EQA is still the cheapest purely electric Mercedes you can get but you get the feeling that things could’ve been done better with just a tad more effort in the right direction.

The post TEST DRIVE: 2021 Mercedes-Benz EQA – Your Every Day Electric SUV appeared first on EVGLOBE - News on Electric Vehicles and Hybrids.

An iD.3 With Higher Ground Clearance

What is the iD.4 after all? Nothing more or less than the SUV version of the iD.3. Think of it as a purely electric Volkswagen Tiguan, if you will, the car with some of best figures in the sales charts that VW makes today. And since the VAG group is the biggest car seller in the world right now (battling it out with Toyota every year), the best-selling SUV this conglomerate makes will need an electric version at one point. That’s what the iD.4 aims to be.

Size-wise, it’s more of a crossover than an SUV. Compared to the iD.3, the new EV is 30 centimeters longer but the wheelbase itself adds just 1 millimeter on the iD.4 which goes to show just how far a modular platform can go. The SUV is also taller, with an added 6 centimeters in ground clearance (for a total of 21 centimeters) and a taller roofline by the same amount. In terms of width, you’ll have to add 5 centimeters to the grand total.

As for the design, it’s just what you’d expect: the iD.3 on a different scale. The front end feels a lot bulkier than on the smaller hatch, with larger proportions all around. Struggling to make it as streamlined as possible, the iD.4 doesn’t strike you as a big car. That’s all due to its rounded shapes which keep the drag coefficient as low as possible (it’s 0.28). However, once you get the ruler out or you’re forced to park in a tighter spot, you instantly notice its size and those extra centimeters do come in handy once you step inside.

Spacious Interior

The interior looks exactly the same as on the iD.3 but, the moment you sit down inside the iD.4 you realize just how much more room there is. It feels spacious and well organized, with very few buttons and a plethora of touch-sensitive surfaces. And this is where my first complaint comes in.

I understand that new-age cars must have a certain feel. The car makers are trying extra hard to offer new technologies inside them and new ways to interact with the car’s on-board systems. But offering a new technology just for the sake of saying it’s different doesn’t really help out.

Modern-day Volkswagen cars come with a pretty straightforward infotainment system and the iD.4 makes no exception. It’s just like a tablet, with various submenus and pretty easy to use. What isn’t easy to accommodate to though is the way the controls work.

Adjusting the temperature implies sliding your finger on a touch bar at the base of the screen. Adjusting the volume is done the same way and while you do get some shortcut buttons right under the vents on the dash, they have been poorly chosen. Why do I need a shortcut for the self-parking function or for the active safety systems? These are areas where I hardly ever want to go.

A much more useful shortcut button would’ve been one for the media source or one for the navigation system. I understand there’s no pleasing everyone, and to that end, a configurable button would’ve been very useful. During my time with the car, I found this and the touch-sensitive buttons on the steering wheel the most frustrating parts of my experience. Because, yes, the steering wheel buttons are also no longer physical, but touch sensitive. And even though you do get haptic feedback when using them, you’ll still find yourself double checking every time to make sure you ‘pressed’ the right button.

The iD.4 also comes with a personal assistant that can take voice commands if the control system annoys you but you’d have to have a perfect English accent, unlike myself, and it doesn’t work in too many other languages either, so its utility will be limited.

But, moving on from the technology, the cabin feels very airy and the materials used are decent on most surfaces. The seats of this launch 1^st Edition model were wrapped in Alcantara with some faux leather add-ons on the sides and they felt really good to the touch. Ours were manually adjustable but you can get more advanced seats, with massaging function and electric adjustment if you want but they will cost a pretty penny.

There’s also ample room in this car, both up front and in the back, more so than in the iD.3. Taller people will fit without any issues both up front and in the back, where the seats are a bit taller to offer the rear passengers a better look at the road ahead.

Since the iD.4 is 30 centimeters longer than the iD.3, the boot space is considerably bigger too. Chip in the taller greenhouse too and you get up to 543 liters of space back there. Fold the rear seats and you get up to 1575 liters, which is very impressive.

But what about the driving position? I was rather surprised to see it was lower than I expected. When you look at the iD.4 from the outside and see just how bulky and imposing it is, you expect to sit rather high in the driver’s seat. To my surprise, I didn’t get that feeling at all. As a matter of fact, it felt as if I was just a tad higher than in the iD.3. Maybe it was just an impression but, in the end, that’s what we’re left with after driving a car, isn’t it?

I should mention that I prefer a lower seating position, as it makes me feel more in control. Furthermore, there was plenty of room to raise my seat if I wanted to, so it really isn’t as much a fault of the car but more of a personal preference.

Snappy Driving

Once you set off, you’re met with the usual deafening quietness of an electric car. The iD.4 is no exception, offering a serene experience overall, accompanied by a subtle hum as EVs are mandated to emit some sort of sound at lower speeds to warn pedestrians in the vicinity. Just like the other cars made on this platform, the iD.4 comes with a rear engine, rear-drive setup which makes for a pretty fun experience behind the wheel.

The throttle response is instant but can be dulled by accessing Eco Mode. There are four main driving modes available in the iD.4, Eco being the one that’s meant to keep you going the most, followed by Comfort, Sport and a custom mode you can set up however you want. When you set off, the Comfort mode is set up by default while Sport mode will make everything just a tad bit sharper.

Driving the iD.4 around town reveals some of the advantages brought on by a bespoke electric platform. For example, since the car was designed and engineered from the get go without a traditional engine on the front axle, its geometry was adapted and the iD.4 has a turning radius of just 10.2 meters. That’s almost as on par with the BMW i3 but on a car that is considerably larger. And that tight turning radius and fast steering rack at low speeds make the iD.4 a great driving car around town. You can park it anywhere with ease also thanks to its squarish design. One issue I had with it though came from the suspension.

Mind you, our tester was riding on 20” wheels but you can get the iD.4 with anything from 18” to 21” wheels, depending on the power level and personal preference. With the 20” setup I had on you could feel most of the road’s imperfections making their way into the cabin, through the seats and then into your back. The suspension in the iD.4 is on the stiffer side of things so going with a smaller set of wheels might help out if you want more comfort. And it’s not like that stiffer ride helps out when you’re trying to push this car to its limits in sport mode.

It leans quite a bit in corners but it does have impressive front axle grip. The rear engine/rear drive setup and the instant power turn it into a fun, zippy car around town, making the car shrink around you when you’re pushing it. Even so, it’s still big and heavy and you can feel that, especially in the corners.

Three Variants Up To 300 HP

There are three main models you can choose from, all of them using the same electric motor on the rear axle but locked to different power levels. There’s an entry-level 148 HP model, an intermediate version with 170 HP and the 204 HP we had for testing purposes. Volkswagen also unveiled a GTX model with a dual-motor configuration and 300 HP but we’re still pretty far off from seeing this hardcore version out and about. You also get two battery sizes available: 52 kWh and 77 kWh usable.

Depending on where you live, a combination of all these powertrains and batteries will be available but we were lucky enough to test the top of the range model, the 204 HP Performance iD.4 with the 77-kWh battery.

It’s a more than decent combination and, according to VW’s claims, it should get you a range of up to 410 kilometers on a full charge. Would you be surprised if I confessed that I actually beat the official ratings on this car?

As we all know, the range of an electric vehicle will depend a lot on the exterior temperature and driving style. Luckily, during my time with the car, the exterior temperature was nearly perfect, varying between 27 and 22 degrees Celsius. The car was also equipped with efficient tires from Pirelli so the energy consumption figures were some of the best I ever recorded with an electric car.

Around town, the average energy consumption recorded was 18.5 kWh/100 km which means, with a full battery, you could cover up to 416 kilometers on a charge. That’s already better than Volkswagen’s claims. Outside the city limits, on B-roads, at an average speed of around 70 km/h (44 mph), the observed energy consumption figures were 13.1 kWh/100 km. That adds up to a total potential range of over 587 kilometers on a single charge (365 miles). That’s way more than the claimed figures from VW. And while the exterior temperature was modest, I did keep the AC on and I only drove this car using Comfort mode, never in Eco mode.

Last, but not least, on the highway, at an average speed of 126 km/h (78 mph) which is close to the speed limit in most European countries, the energy consumption figures shown on the trip computer indicated 22 kWh/100 km which adds up to a range of 350 km (217 miles). That’s more than respectable as few of us will be going for that long without taking a break.

Chip in the fact that the iD.4’s battery can be replenished with 125 kW chargers (and it takes just 34 minutes to get up to 80 percent charge) and you may very well be looking at a tempting electric all-rounder here.

And while all these cold numbers written here might not give you an exact idea as to how the range anxiety issue disappears in the rearview mirror inside this car, as I was pulling up to VW to turn in the car, I had a sudden revelation. Normally, after three days with a test car I’d usually have to either refuel or end up driving it back with the fuel reserve light on. Not only did that not happen with the iD.4 but, after testing it properly in all kinds of scenarios, the car still had about 35% of the battery left when I turned it in. That is very impressive, even though the conditions were perfect.

A Good Step Towards Full Electrification

At the end of the day then, the iD.4 is shaping up to be an even more tantalizing proposition than its smaller, iD.3 brother. I saw a lot of potential in the iD.3 and while it is the first car of this new generation of models that aims to change the way we move, the iD.4 might prove even better for reasons that don’t take anything away from the performance of its smaller brother. In this day and age though, when people are hellbent on buying SUVs and and since the iD.4 is available in countries where the iD.3 is not being sold right now, chances are it will be more successful overall and might actually lead Volkswagen’s charge towards electrification.

The post 2021 Volkswagen iD.4 Review – Global ambitions appeared first on EVGLOBE - News on Electric Vehicles and Hybrids.

Citroen is also a company with a long history behind it and, over time, the French proved to be quite open to new ideas and a lot less conservative than the Germans, for example. Whenever they thought the tide was turning in a certain direction, they quickly adapted. Today, the world seems hellbent on buying taller riding cars and the PSA group as a whole (and now Stellantis) was fast to adapt.

The C4 History

If you look back on the history of the C4 you’ll notice that the model had different shapes over the years. The first ever Citroen C4 was launched nearly 100 years ago, in 1928, and was just a run of the mill car, like the many others you could see on the roads in those days. The design was heavily influenced by the American brothers sold overseas. In the early 2000s, the C4 name was revived and it took the shape of a hatchback that was meant to battle the ever popular Volkswagen Golf. Then we got an MPV with the same name, followed by a crossover that introduced us to the Cactus philosophy. Basically, it had air pockets on the doors to protect the car from idiots in the parking lots. Quite a good idea in retrospect.

Late last year, Citroen decided to unveil the new generation C4. The car is built atop the EMP modular platform which means quite a lot more than you’d think. Sure, the underpinnings of the C4 are shared with a plethora of other models in the PSA group’s offerings, from the 208 to the 2008 and Corsa. But there are certain advantages to it as well, such as a modular approach towards the kind of propulsion system used under the sheet metal.

To be more precise, the EMP platform allows PSA to build cars using either internal combustion engines or electric ones, depending on the preference or the market demand. Basically, you can buy a Citroen C4 today with either a petrol, diesel or purely electric drivetrain. If you choose the latter, you’re going to get the e-C4.

The design of the cars remains the same, no matter what kind of powertrain you get under the hood. It will be virtually impossible to set the cars apart if you don’t check for tailpipes at the back or the blue ‘E’ symbol attached in various parts of the cars. And when it comes to design, things are as subjective as ever.

The first Electric C4

The E-C4 comes with a huge Citroen badge on the front fascia, dressed up in chrome as we’ve been getting used to. To the sides of the badge you’ll find V-shaped daytime running lights powered by LEDs which, if you squint, form an X in the middle. The lower part of the fascia has huge headlights on each side, which can be fitted with adaptive LED technology that actually works really well. It’s definitely not a design for anyone but it gets the job done in two aspects: you can instantly tell this is Citroen and it follows the design rulebook of the French manufacturer.

The side profile makes this crossover look a bit like a Coupe SUV. It has a sloping roofline towards the back that does remind me of the Citroen GS to some extent, as the French company intended in the first place. The doors extend all the way to the bottom of the sills so you won’t ruin your pants in case the car gets dirty. Round the back, the taillights have a complicated design as well, forming an LED-lid X shape too, with a split tailgate dominating the rear fascia. 

Simple, But Effective Interior

Step inside and the same feeling awaits: you can tell this car is a Citroen from the first moment you sit in it. The seats are very comfortable, with 1.5 centimeters of foam added into their lining, for your pleasure. Their design is similar to what you may find in the other Citroen offerings, like the C3 and C5. The dashboard is simple and includes a massive single unit in the middle, housing the infotainment screen and some controls.

Right under the screen you’ll find the HVAC controls which are still analogue. Thank God! Using them is easy and straightforward, without being too distracting. The infotainment screen has a decent resolution and is big enough for most of your needs. It comes with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto so you’ll be set for any function you may need. It is a wired connection though and you do need a Type-C cable to use it. There’s also a Type-A USB connector located under the HVAC controls to the side of the wireless charging pad, but it can’t be used for connecting your phone to the car’s system.

The instrument cluster is digital and on the really small side of things. For some people that may be annoying but you can get HUD in these cars in which case, the instrument cluster becomes rather useless. Unlike in ICE models, you don’t need to check the rev counter or oil pressure or even temperature gauge. Therefore, the fact that it was so small didn’t really bother me.

What did bother me was the plastic quality in most places. The dashboard and half of the door panels are wrapped in poor-quality plastic and feel really bad to the touch. Soft-touch plastics would’ve gone a long way towards making this interior feel better. I know this isn’t a premium car and, considering the expensive batteries it has on board, some corners had to be cut. Of course, a different plastic choice – I’m not asking for leather here – would’ve made a huge difference.

As a matter of fact, that’s my only gripe with the interior. I was even impressed by the amount of room you get in the back. You can literally fit four adults inside without any sort of compromise on their comfort.

136 Horsepower And 173 Miles Range

Since I mentioned comfort, let’s dig into the technical side of things. Just like the rest of the electric cars built on this platform, the Citroen e-C4 has some very predictable numbers to boast. Under the ‘hood’ you’ll find and electric motor powering the front axle alone, good for 136 PS and 260 Nm of torque in total. This motor is fed via a 50 kWh battery (45 kWh usable) stored in the floor, using a solution that has been adopted by every manufacturer out there today. The reason why batteries are stored in-between the axles and under the occupants is rather obvious: this is where you get the most room and it keeps the center of gravity low.

In most cases, when talking about cars using a modular ICE-EV platform, the EV versions normally come with a couple of drawbacks. The biggest one you’ll notice is in the ride harshness. Due to the large battery packs these cars have to carry around, suspensions have to be reinforced to cope with the added weight. In the case of the e-C4, compared to a petrol-powered model, the extra weight adds up to about 300 kilos. And normally, that would make the ride jittery and extra harsh.

Not in this case though.

I had the chance of sampling the normal C4 too, and while I did find it to be very comfortable, it did seem to be bouncing around on certain surfaces. That made the whole car feel a bit unsure and unstable. Not in the e-C4 though. The electric variant felt well planted, surefooted and incredibly comfortable. The suspension felt quiet and refined, just like you would expect from a Citroen. To be fair, it was one of the best passive setups I have ever experienced and that says quite a lot about the e-C4.

And it’s all thanks to the new, so-called Citroen Progressive Hydraulic Cushions. Basically, while conventional suspension systems have a shock absorber, spring and mechanical bump-stops at each corner, the Citroen system adds two hydraulic stops – one for compression, the other for decompression. The suspension works in two stages depending on the stresses applied.

For light compression and decompression, the spring and shock absorber control vertical movements together with no assistance required from the hydraulic stops. However, the presence of the hydraulic stops means the engineers have greater freedom to tune the setup to achieve the fabled “magic carpet ride” effect, which gives the impression that the car is gliding over uneven ground.

With major impacts, the spring and shock absorber work together with the hydraulic compression or decompression stops, which gradually slow the movement to avoid jolts at the end of the range. Unlike a traditional mechanical stop, which absorbs energy, but then returns part of it as a shock, the hydraulic stop absorbs and dissipates this energy.

Not The Fastest EV Out There

But what about the performance? Well, the e-C4 wasn’t designed to break any land-speed records. It’s zippy around town, thanks to the instant electric torque, but flat out from standstill it will do 100 km/h (62 mph) in 9.7 seconds. That’s decent but nowhere near what some people might expect. Then again, the whole character of the car isn’t sporty in any way. 

The e-C4 is more of an urban machine, meant to be comfortable and offer a great mix for everyday usability. Try to push it hard and it will start to understeer, the front axle will lose traction under hard acceleration and you’ll be met with a lot of body lean in all directions. So you’re better off keeping things in the ‘chill’ zone.

But what about the range? Well, during my time with the car, I couldn’t get close to the official range figures posted by Citroen online. According to their estimates, courtesy of the WLTP testing cycle, the e-C4 should have a range of 217 miles with a full charge. Around town, I saw an average of 280 km (173 miles) and the weather was rather warm. I didn’t have to use the AC but the car was fitted with winter tires which were not exactly the most efficient choice.

Go outside the city limits and the range might pick up if you keep the speed in check. At an average speed of about 45 mph (72 km/h), the most I could squeeze out of the car was 320 km (200 miles) which was pretty darn close to the claimed figures. Hop onto the highway though and you’ll soon see those numbers die down and reach 200 km (124 miles) at most, at an average speed of 130 km/h (81 mph). Considering the car has a single-speed transmission and its top speed is 150 km/h, it’s pretty obvious this is no highway cruiser.

Should You Buy One?

Luckily, the people from Citroen made a good call and decided to offer the e-C4 the possibility to make it up to you, even if you’re considering longer trips with it. That’s because you can recharge it at 100 kW DC chargers which means you can get it up to 80 percent again in about 30 minutes. Of course, you can use slower chargers too and the charging time will increase accordingly, depending on your use case.

Should you buy one, then? That depends on what you’re looking for. The Citroen e-C4 is definitely one of the best riding cars I’ve ever driven and it simply puts to shame most other electric models of this size on the market right now. If you can look past the cheap plastic inside, the mediocre range and if you’re just in the market for a funky-looking city car, the e-C4 might just be the one for you.

The post TEST DRIVE: 2021 Citroen e-C4 – Comfort above anything else appeared first on EVGLOBE - News on Electric Vehicles and Hybrids.

Resources were scarce and that forced car makers to find innovative ways of making cars that would require little and offer a lot in return. It was the era of cars like the Fiat 500 (Cinquecento) or the Classic Mini, both of them being absolute monsters in terms of sales and creating brands that would last for decades. It’s funny to think of it this way, but cars like the Fiat 500 made it possible to keep brands like Maserati or Ferrari still going. But that’s a different story.

Reborn in 2007

Unlike its most avid rival, the Fiat 500 took a break only to come back into the world back in 2007 with a new image and appeal. Ever since, the little car was sold in millions of units and proved that people still have an appetite for small, cute cars, especially in congested huge urban areas. Go for a weekend getaway in Italy or Spain and you’ll soon notice these little 500s everywhere. It is the most successful product to come out of Fiat’s assembly lines in the last 20 years and that’s not going to change anytime soon.

As a matter of fact, Fiat knows it has a good product on its hands and is going to milk it for everything it has. Since 2007, little has changed about the 500. The exterior and interior design stayed relatively the same, with small changes being done to it to distinguish the generations between them. However, unless you squint and look really hard, you could easily say they all look the same. The technical side of things also went largely unchanged except for the engines, that had to be upgraded to keep up with the ever-changing legislation in the EU regarding emissions and the likes.

However, in mid-2019, Fiat announced that it has big plans with the 500. A new generation was in the works and would bring big changes. First and foremost, the car would use a brand new platform. This new platform would also bring a dreaded increase in size and that definitely didn’t sit well with a lot of fans of the car. It may seem odd but the compact size of the 500 is one of the main reasons why people like it.

The biggest change though would come in the drivetrain department: the new 500 would be electric!

Initially, the announcement made it sound like the electric version would be the only one on offer. But Fiat decided to bring a petrol-powered version too. Late last year, the 500e was finally unveiled and captured the minds of many fans.

Welcome a New Electric Fiat

The new 500e does stand out from its predecessors but not by much. In terms of size, it is 61mm longer overall, 39mm longer in the wheelbase, 56mm wider and 40mm taller which might be an issue for some, but won’t mess things up too much.

As for the design, you’ll notice a few details that will make the car stand out. For example, the headlights now have a sort of split design. That’s because the round shape is now split between the hood and the front bumper. The headlight itself is located on the bumper but the daytime running lights are stuck on the hood, creating a circle combined with the headlight. The turn signals are located under the headlamps and are also shaped like a circle and you could mistake them for fog lights.

The front fascia is dominated by a huge 500 badge that replaces the usual grille older models had. In this case, since this is an electric car, you need a better aerodynamic profile rather than cooling for the ‘engine under the hood’. Therefore, the grille was moved below, feeding air into the system needed to cool off the battery pack in the floor.

There are other subtle hints all around the car to tell you this is a new, electric model. The C-Pillar has a 500e badge at its base, while the taillights also sport a similar inscription on a side. But other than these very small hints, you could easily be fooled into thinking this is just another 500.

The same story goes for the interior even though some things did change in there. The dashboard now has a new design and it does away with the old style one with huge rotary buttons. Nowadays you get a beautiful high-resolution touchscreen on top of the dash, a new design for the air vents and reshaped buttons underneath. They work flawlessly and completely change the experience you get in the car. Another noteworthy mention here is the wireless charging pad under the HVAC buttons which features the Torino skyline. A nice touch to remind you of this car’s heritage.

You’ll also notice the center console is different, leaving some room between the dash and the seats, since a gearshift lever is no longer necessary. Instead, you get buttons to select the direction you want to go in. The design is clean cut and simple and the instrument cluster is no different. It’s basically a screen with useful information displayed in it, with simple and colorful graphics that gets the job done.

Since this is a ‘green’ car, eco-friendly materials are being offered. The textile seat upholstery, for example, is made with recycled plastics from waste gathered from our oceans. The floormats also use nylon from these plastics. Then there’s the ‘leather’. Fiat says its 500e will be using ‘vegan leather’ which might sound good to some, but we’ll reserve judgment for a few years from now, to see how this material copes with the sweat and grease from our hands on the steering wheel for example.

As for the ergonomics, you need to adjust your expectations. This is a small car and you can’t expect it to offer the same levels of space you’d find on SUVs, for example. Up front there’s plenty of room for people of average size. Up to about 6-ft you’ll be comfortable, with plenty of headroom but over that limit, you might start feeling a bit cramped. The rear seats are tiny and may be used by kids and shorter adults but for small periods of time.

Also, the plastics on the door panels and the top of the dashboard are not of the best quality, feeling cheap to the touch and giving off the impression they will get scratched easily over time. At least the fit is nice, with no noticeable gaps anywhere inside the cabin.

Updated Electric Drivetrain

Apart from all of these novelties, the one area that we can’t overlook is the drivetrain. The new Fiat 500e is here to fix some of the mistakes made on the Italian car maker’s first attempt at offering electric mobility around town.

In case you didn’t know, an electric version of the 500 was offered as far back as 2013 but it was a US-only ordeal and let’s just say it didn’t exactly rise to the expectations people had of it, because of its limited range. Therefore, Fiat decided to fix the issues that plagued the first attempt and bring out this new 500e, this time making it available worldwide. So, what hides under the ‘hood’ of this new version?

A whole new platform first and foremost, aiming to offer more room for bigger batteries, a better ride and extended range. There are two motor choices available but whether you can pick between them depends on where you live, as not all markets get them. There’s a base, 95 HP version and a more powerful, 118 HP, alternative. They also come with different battery sizes. The entry-level choice only gets a 23.8 kWh usable battery while the top spec version can rely on 37.3 kWh. We were fortunate enough to test the latter.

That said, the 118 HP motor also delivers 220 Nm of torque and all of it goes to the front axle alone. Since we’re talking about an electric vehicle, the torque hits you instantly and makes the car feel quick without breaking the speed limit. As a matter of fact, the 500e feels faster than it really is. The specs say it will do 100 km/h in 9 seconds, so it won’t be breaking your neck anytime soon. It will feel a bit quicker though and that’s definitely a plus.

That’s definitely going to come in handy around town. Zipping through traffic is a breeze in the 500e and its still compact size makes it perfect for tight parking spaces. Even though the longer than usual front doors might make it bit hard to get out of the car when parked next to others. The suspension, on the other hand, had to be reinforced due to the added weight brought on by the batteries located in the floor.

They weigh about 300 kilos and that makes a huge impact on a car that used to tip the scales at around 1 metric ton even. Therefore, the ride in the 500e is a bit bouncy and stiffer than you might expect. I’d go as far as comparing it with the MINI Cooper SE’s suspension, only the MINI has an excuse as it is marketed as a sporty model. That’s not the case with the 500e.

And the Fiat also can’t match the MINI in terms of driving dynamics. It understeers and the weight makes itself noticed as soon as you hit your first corner with a bit more speed than you should. The tires might be the ones making the car lose its mechanical grip, as the 500e we drove came with Michelin Primacy rubber meant to be as efficient as possible and extend the range of the car.

Speaking of which, a lot of people will be curious about this particular subject. Fiat claims that the 42 kWh battery (37.3 kWh usable) in the new 500e should allow you to cover over 300 kilometers on a single charge. Is that doable? Well, during my time with the car I saw an average energy consumption of about 17 kWh around town which would mean you could squeeze about 219 kilometers of range out of it. That was at a temperature of about 10 degrees Celsius and with the heating off, mind you. So quite a bit off from the claimed figures.

As usual, I tried to test out the external range as well but backed off as soon as I went on the highway as I saw how the range was dropping at an incredible pace once I hit 130 km/h. Since the top speed of the 500e is limited to 150 km/h, pushing this car on the highway isn’t the smartest choice. Stick to the city limits and you’ll be fine, just as Fiat recommends.

Therefore, I couldn’t tell you how far you could go on the highway with one of these but I definitely wouldn’t recommend straying too far from the city. On the bright side, all Fiat 500e models come with CCS fast charging and that means you can use up to 85 kW chargers to replenish your battery. If you do, Fiat says you should be able to get from 5% to 80% in 25 minutes which is mighty impressive.

However, we all know how this works. Even though the car can take that much power, the charger itself must also be on top notch condition and that rarely happens. If you have to use a 11 kW Type 2 charger, a full charge should take about 4 hours.

Quirky, But Still Fun

At the end of the day, the Fiat 500e does exactly what it set out to do, offering  decent electric range around town, with a fun to drive chassis and no emissions. Sure, it does have its shortcomings and the real-life range is a bit off compared to the claimed figures, but overall, it still remains the quirky, fun, little bundle of joy we’ve all grown used to over time.

The post TEST DRIVE: 2021 Fiat 500e – Electrifyingly Retro appeared first on EVGLOBE - News on Electric Vehicles and Hybrids.

So, what does the future hold for BMW M? How will they differentiate themselves from the competition once we’ve all abandoned ICE cars? BMW M CEO, Markus Flasch, tried to shed some light into the topic during a recent interview held with Australian journalists. Of course, he had to be quiet about details and specifics as a lot of cars are currently in production but he didn’t hesitate to confirm that we’re just a few years away from seeing the first M cars with hybrid or fully electric powertrains.

As you can see in the video below, Flasch said that “We will see the first battery electric M car performance model ready later this year, we will see high-performance hybrid variants pretty soon, and we will see high-performance battery electric vehicles in a couple of years.” We expect that high-performance hybrid to be the rumored BMW X8 M.

BMW’s 3.0 liter straight-six B58 engine and its high-performance alternative, the S58, will most likely be some of the last to go out of production. Our sources tell us that the upcoming 7 Series will use them in its most potent versions, joined by various electric motor configurations. That means, the B58 and S58 will keep being made for at least 5 to 8 years and will probably get some technical upgrades over time.

BMW clearly wants to keep all choices on the table and that’s something Flasch pointed out as well in the interview: “As in the past, we offer the best propulsion technology for the use case,” he said. “We don’t have all-wheel drive in all of our cars, we don’t have V8s in all of our cars, we have diesel-powered M Performance cars as well, so there is a whole variety today and we will see this also in the future.”

As for what the electrified M cars will be offering, it’s pretty obvious that the BMW division will not be looking for straight line performance first and foremost but rather superior dynamics: “Longitudinal performance is something that has never been the single purpose of M, and even less so with electrified cars.

With battery electric vehicles initial acceleration and longitudinal performance is something pretty much everyone can do. And this is not what we are working on, we are working on ultimate driving dynamics. The M cars we will put on the road, the electrified M cars, will show that this is the future.”

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Just like it’s the case in Stuttgart and Munich, the Ingolstadt team might also have a problem with its exterior design. There’s been a lot of talk surrounding the look of a lot of new cars on the roads today and how they are nothing more than the same design but on a different scale. Mercedes-Benz has been heavily criticized for that, especially on the older generation C-Class, E-Class and S-Class models and there’s no sign of any change in the distance.

BMW, on the other hand, admitted that cars are starting to be a bit boring and tried something new. You can hardly mistake a 3 Series, 4 Series, 5 Series or 7 Series anymore these days, thanks to various reinterpretations of their grilles and other trademark design cues. However, this change of pace happening in Munich hasn’t been exactly a breeze, as a lot of people immediately started complaining about this new approach. So what did Audi do? Stuck to their guns, of course.

German brands are known for certain things and when they decide to change something, the process takes time. And when it comes to design, things are to be taken into careful consideration, because this is what sells the car for most people.

New Design And Tech

Just like BMW and Mercedes-Benz, Audi has a certain way of doing things. The flagship is unveiled at a certain point in time, after which every single car coming out in the upcoming 7 years will follow in its footsteps, be it in terms of design or technology. That was definitely the case for the new A8 which was the one who introduced us to a host of new technologies and new design cues.

From the outside, the A8 looks stately, elegant and incredibly well built. The Singleframe grille up front dominates the front fascia and is covered in chrome, an old-school way of signaling we’re in the presence of a premium automobile. There’s a lot of that material on the new A8, on all sides, but the front end gets the most of it. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not necessarily a bad thing but maybe we should reconsider this whole Chrome = Luxury thing at one point.

Move to the sides and you’ll notice the classic sedan features that you’d expect from an A8. There’s an inherent balance to the design of this car, it’s clean cut and simple, featuring chrome on the bottom side of the doors and around the windows. What you will notice though is the rather long overhang at the back, with a considerable distance from the wheels to the end of the rear bumper.

Round the back, the same chrome details will catch your eyes first, on the boot lid and the bumper, mimicking a set of tailpipes at the very bottom. That’s because there are no visible tailpipes on the A8, unless you chip in the S8 model.

Plenty Of Luxury and Tech Inside

Step inside and you’ll feel very familiar if you’ve been in a recent Audi model. As I said, the A8 dictates how the rest of the line-up should look like inside and there are no surprises here. The materials used are of the best quality and the fit and finish pretty much perfect. Everywhere you look or touch, a good mix of materials awaits. Our tester had an Alcantara roof liner, open-pore wood veneers on the dash and doors, and Nappa leather seats all around, with the S-line logo embossed in the front ones. Needless to say, these seats were also heated, cooled and could massage you on the way to your very important meeting.

What I love the most about new Audi models, at least when it comes to their interiors, is the way the infotainment screen is embedded into the general dashboard layout. Unlike in other cars, like the 7 Series or the S-Class, the infotainment screen inside the A8 feels and looks like it belongs there. It’s beautifully integrated into the overall design of the cabin and simply works.

When the A8 was introduced, the world also got to see the way they wanted to have customers operate the HVAC controls, which was yet another touchscreen, positioned under the infotainment system’s. I was among those criticizing this approach at first, I have to admit, claiming it would only distract you from the road. But it actually kind-of works. That’s because the touch-sensitive screens inside this car offer haptic feedback. Not only that, but you also have to press rather hard on a certain button, to get it to do what you want it to, as a simple touch wouldn’t suffice. That makes the whole system work better than expected. And there’s a lot more technology on-board the A8 as well.

The Audi A8 became the first car in the world to offer Level 3 autonomous functions when it first came out but various problems made it rain on Audi’s parade, even though their system was cutting edge. Even today, you can only get this system in certain countries, because of legal issues, as most analysts feared when the topic of autonomous cars first started coming into the limelight. How do you plan for self-driving cars from a legal point of view? Most states around the world explicitly say that you can’t have a car driving on public roads, with nobody actually doing the driving. That’s why, Audi’s Level 3 autonomous driving functions are limited to a handful of countries which actually made an effort to make them legal.

New Air Suspension and 48V System

Then there’s the clever, new air suspension introduced on the A8, that uses a 48V electrical system to adjust every single damper independently, on the fly. The cars fitted with this optional feature, have a camera embedded in the windshield, which scans the road ahead and adjusts every wheel independently, depending on the road surface, so that you can be as comfy as possible inside. Unfortunately, this system is not a standard feature in the A8, not even in the higher-tier models like the one we had for reviewing purposes, the 60 TFSI e, so I cannot tell you whether it works as intended or not.

What I can say though is that the standard air suspension the A8 has (and our tester was fitted with) does offer a very comfortable overall experience, on par with the standard setups available on the 7 Series or S-Class. It soaks up the bumps effortlessly and complains about the road surface only when sharp edges meet the 20” wheels at an unsavory speed. That’s when a thump will be making its way into the cabin by means of the dampers.

Scanning the road ahead isn’t the only trick in the book of this next-gen suspension. Audi also worked on the active safety side of things on the A8 and the car now comes with sensors meant to keep you as safe as possible in all types of events. For example, in case of an impending crash, the car can raise either side by several centimeters, in order to make sure most of the force of the impact is absorbed by the sills, not the doors.

This way, your life could be saved and I have to say the Audi pre-sense system actually works and it’s a bit on the edge all the time. During my time with the car, I got to see it in action, even though it was a false alarm. As I was stopped at a red light, the car noticed a cyclist coming right for the rear end of the vehicle with considerable speed and triggered the safety protocol. The side windows were closed shut in a matter of milliseconds, the seatbelt pulled me into the seat while the seat itself puffed up in anticipation of a collision. An Audi Pre-Sense warning popped up on the screen while the hazard lights were automatically put on and a warning sound was played through the speakers. Fortunately, this was just a false alarm but I felt confident from then on out that whatever happened, I would be as safe as possible in a modern-day car.

All of that happened in the early stages of my time with the A8 and I often think that I noticed all of those systems working even more because of the utter silence this car offers when setting off. This was not only due to the perfect sound deadening Audi deployed on the A8, but also because this was a plug-in hybrid model, the first in the 27-year history of the luxurious limousine’s life span. And that means exactly what you think it means: this car was meant to be driven relying solely on the electrons stored in the battery for as long as possible.

Lots Of Power, Thanks To Hybrid System

On the spec side of things, the 60 TFSI e badge on the boot doesn’t really say a lot, to be frank, especially if you’re used to the ‘old way’ of naming various Audi models. The ’60’ tells you that this car has copious amounts of power and, in all fairness, it does. The powertrain is made up of a 3-liter V6 petrol engine along with an electric motor housed in the gearbox assembly. The oil-burning side of things is good for 340 PS and 500 Nm of torque (369 lb-ft), the same as you would find in a base A8 55 TFSI.

However, the electric motor steps in to provide an additional 136 PS and 350 Nm of torque (258 lb-ft). Don’t go rushing to your calculator to find out how much power this setup can deliver though because the total output isn’t the mathematical sum of the two. As it is the case in most PHEV models, the two motors can’t deliver all of their might at the same time so the most you can get out of the A8 60 TFSI e is 449 PS and 700 Nm of torque (516 lb-ft).

Those are some impressive figures and, despite having to carry around a decently sized battery in the back, the 2.3-ton A8 can accelerate to 100 km/h (62 mph) from standstill in 4.9 seconds! That is not bad at all for a limousine of this size. Consider the fact that you can rely on 350 Nm (258 lb-ft) of torque instantly, at any speed, courtesy of the electric motor, and you get a more than decent experience behind the wheel.

The A8 60 TFSI e is a fast car that makes reaching triple digit speeds seem so effortless, you’ll be checking the speedometer all the time, to make sure you’re not going to jail in a hurry as well. It’s in the corners where the A8 falls a bit short but then again, considering its weight and all, you couldn’t really expect it to be as agile as an RS5 after all. That’s not the point of the A8 though.

This is a limousine and it’s meant to be comfortable, quiet and relaxing most of all, and the A8 60 TFSI e delivers on all fronts. It’s especially impressive when first setting off, as the electric motor will power you along without hearing as much as a whisper from the powertrain. It’s eerily quiet inside the A8 during those first miles, so quiet it may cause some discomfort, as peculiar as that may sound. Thankfully, I had the Bang & Olufsen sound system at the ready to make things better.

22 Miles of Electric Drive

Just like it’s the case with virtually any other PHEV out there, the A8 too was set up to drive on electricity alone as much as possible. Therefore, the car will default to Auto Hybrid mode when setting off, which means you’ll only be using electrons to get by for as long as possible. That can also be done at speeds up to 84 mph which should make highway driving possible too. Don’t think that at those speeds you can cover too much ground though. This is a heavy car and the battery only has a capacity of 14.1 kWh. Nevertheless, around town, I managed to squeeze about 22 miles out of a full charge, which should be enough for most daily commutes.

The internal combustion engine will remain silent for most of your trip then but it’s important to note that even when it does kick in, no shudders or funny noises make it into the cabin. The switch between the different power sources is made seamlessly and you can only hear the internal combustion engine when you really mash the gas pedal.

The car also comes with a couple of driving modes for the hybrid powertrain, one of them allowing you to recharge the battery using the petrol engine. That’s definitely not how you’re supposed to use this car, but on the off chance that you’re going on a longer trip and want to use the A8 60 TFSI e in EV mode alone once you reach a city center, you can do that without having to stop to recharge the batteries.

The Best A8 In The Audi Range?

All things considered, the Audi A8 60 TFSIe could very well be considered the best pick of the range. It has more than enough power for any sort of situation, it’s fast, comfortable and the quietest choice in the range overall. Sure, there is a more powerful version out there, namely the S8, but that’s reserved for a special kind of customer.

Overall, the A8 falls right within the margins set by playing in the same league as the S-Class and 7 Series. It’s a middle-ground choice too, fitting between its two main rivals from Germany when it comes to luxury/features on one hand and sportiness/handling on the other.

The A8, just like its main rivals, the other two flagships mentioned in this here review, made a name for itself by innovating, more than anything else. That’s the main purpose of a flagship, to show you what a car maker can actually put together and showcase its expertise in various ways.

To that end, the new A8 is true to its name. It comes with incredible amounts of technology, from the trick air suspension and well implemented PHEV setup, to the Level 3 autonomous driving functions and many many others. Chip in the incredibly well built interior and whisper quiet drive and you have a proper limousine on your hands.

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According to the BMW Group, MINI is already migrating towards an all-electric future, as pieces have already been set in motion. 2025 will mark the last year when a new MINI model will be launched using an internal combustion engine. By 2027, MINI is expecting to see fully electric vehicles account for more than 50 percent of its sales and, if the sales of the MINI Cooper SE model are anything to go by, that target will be easily achieved.

Furthermore, the first all-electric alternative part of this new plan will be the Countryman. MINI also confirmed today the next generation of the British crossover will be available with a fully electric model in the line-up. The Countryman will be built in Leipzig starting with 2023.

Additionally, BMW also announced that a wide range of the MINI electric models planned for future launch will be built in China, in collaboration with local manufacturer, Great Wall Motors, starting with 2023. This is yet a long-time coming bit of news as the two companies have been negotiating this move for several years. This way, Great Wall Motors will become the second Chinese car maker the BMW Group is in business with after Brilliance Automotive.

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