Battery storage is heavy and bulky, making electric cars expensive. Can the concept of the small electric car still make sense? After all, city cars actually stand for cheap mobility. ntv.de was on the road with the offers Honda e, Fiat 500 Elektro and Opel Corsa-e.
Ironically, electrically powered small cars were often seen at the beginning of electromobility, apart from the products from Tesla: the BMW i3 is almost legendary. Also unforgettable are bizarre phenomena such as the Mitsubishi i-MiEV, which was joked about because of its name. Originally, the Mitsubishi i is actually a Japanese kei car with a small-volume petrol engine, which was chosen to be the BEV version at Mitsubishi to launch the era of electromobility. The project was Europeanized with the cooperation models Citroën C-Zero and Peugeot iOn.
Renault has also been there from the very beginning with the Zoé, which, however, also had a fairly meager battery storage at the time. Range? Pretty meager with just over 100 kilometers under realistic conditions. Things don’t look much better for the early i3 models either. After all, the first small cars already offered the function of charging quickly with direct current, albeit with a weak charging capacity of a maximum of 50 kW – and battery capacities of 14 (i-MIEV) to 22 kWh (i3 first series) do not exactly speak for high suitability for everyday use.
Around ten years have now passed. This raises the exciting question of what the small electric car front looks like today. BMW i3 and the Mitsubishi i-MiEV including brand siblings are history. In addition to the recently emerging electric midgets, for example the young Elaris brand, the established manufacturers now have a handful of electrically powered small car models on the market. The smallest is the Volkswagen Up with an exterior length of just 3.60 meters. The electrically powered Fiat 500 is just 3.63 meters long, the Mini Electric 3.85 meters.
The spacey Honda e also seems quite compact at 3.89 meters. In addition, the DS3 Crossback E-Tense, Opel Corsa-e and Peugeot 208-e are clearly among the small cars with lengths between 4.06 and 4.12 meters. And of course the Renault Zoé in its modernized form continues to have a strong presence in the model landscape of small battery electric offers.
In order not to get bogged down, ntv.de has picked out the three candidates Fiat 500 Elektro, Honda e and Opel Corsa-e for this paper – all characters that could not be more different.
At least the Fiat 500 currently occupies a special position – because nowhere else can the customer get so much battery (42 kWh capacity) in so little car. This means that the smooch ball is even reasonably suitable for long distances. So throw it in the Italian and be amazed! Because the engineers seem to have really gotten into it and designed the packaging so cleverly that there was quite a lot of space inside in the tight space.
There is no trace of the appearance of a small car, nor of questionable material processing – always a stubborn prejudice at Fiat. But the new 500 is really good, nothing rattles or creaks, all decor and fabrics make a valuable impression. And the ten-inch touchscreen in 16:9 format brings a touch of high-tech to modern interior design. Comfortable seats also support the all-rounder character of the Italian.
The moment of truth, however, comes when you look at the range display: it shows at least 233 kilometers with a 92 percent battery level – but at a not-so-mild three-degree outside temperature. That’s okay for the vehicle category, which is not intended for long distances anyway.
But you can if you want – and what more could you ask for? Maybe a decent fast charge performance. But it also works with 85 kilowatts. Nevertheless, you have to be patient for a little more than half an hour until the battery is properly refilled. At least the Fiat 500 keeps its promise to be really economical. In test mode, ntv.de realistically achieved less than 14 kWh per 100 kilometers, which is an amazingly good value.
And the 118-hp, 1.4-tonner is not at all phlegmatic, with the 300-kilogram battery paying into its account. He sets himself in motion (nine seconds to 100 km/h) and runs an impressive 150 km/h. The Honda e doesn’t quite make it at 145 km/h, but the 154 hp microcar pulls on the wheels much more wildly and accelerates to 100 km/h within 8.3 seconds.
And as much as the Fiat 500 character car is, the Honda e still surpasses the Italian here. With its spacey retro design, the Japanese draws the attention of passers-by like a strong magnet. Technology meets design, you could say: instead of exterior mirrors, there are two sticks with a camera – the image is transmitted to corresponding monitors on the inside. Not that this feature is an advantage, quite the opposite in fact. The image is grainy, especially at night. If it rains then it gets really bad.
But whatever, coolness counts. In general, the Honda, which weighs in at 1.6 tons, looks pretty cool on the inside. His never-ending screen landscape turns you on, wood decor and seats with stylish fabric covers look dignified. The heavyweight lies full on the road and makes a comfortable, supple impression.
The Honda e definitely deserved more success – just 677 examples were on the road in the whole of last year, while almost 30,000 electric Fiat 500s were registered in the same period.
But why? Perhaps the Honda battery with 35.5 kWh is a notch too small, while the consumption of just under 18 kWh in the combined discipline is too high in return. Or is the design too special? One does not know.
The Honda e is great, but universally usable? Yes, but with a lot of patience. Its battery charges with a maximum of 50 kilowatts, but this is more of a theoretical nature – so you stand at the DC chargers for a relatively long time. At a cool five degrees Celsius outside temperature, the range indicator shows just over 100 kilometers with almost 80 percent state of charge.
There is probably more success with mainstream products. Almost 15,000 of Opel’s all-electric Corsa were put on the road last year. At over four meters, the front-wheel drive is slightly larger than the two small car candidates and takes the largest battery with 50 kWh.
However, the somewhat older drive train is not the most efficient with just under 16 kWh of electricity per 100 kilometers in the combined consumption discipline according to the factory specification. This means that the Corsa is not a range junkie either and in reality only manages a little over 300 kilometers with a fully charged battery and cool weather. In the summer he may get further, but you should always calculate conservatively.
Nevertheless, the Opel Corsa can pass as a balanced all-rounder, especially since it offers 1042 liters of significantly more trunk volume than the small cars with 550 (Fiat) or 861 (Honda) liters. An advantage of the electrically powered small car is its even weight distribution thanks to the battery in the underbody. The high unladen weight (1.5 tons) of the Corsa is striking when you consider that the combustion engine versions start at just 1055 kilograms.
You can tell that from the driver’s point of view, the battery-electric Hesse springs more binding, is less wobbly on the rear axle and rolls smoothly over bumps. The 136 hp four-door car is extremely agile, starts powerfully from a standing start and has quickly worked its way up to 100 km/h (8.7 seconds).
Even the currently most powerful petrol engine edition lacks such sovereignty. But does it justify the extra price? In the end, it’s up to the customer to decide – who, however, is quite price-sensitive in this segment. In January of this year, the registrations of electrically powered vehicles with a growing model range fell by 1.2 percent compared to the same period last year – it remains to be seen whether this is due to the reduced funding.
The Corsa-e is at least 36,395 euros, from which a total of 6750 euros can be deducted (applies to all candidates discussed here). However, the 130 hp petrol engine starts at 26,950 euros. If you are satisfied with 100 hp, you can start from a relatively moderate 20,160 euros.
You can enjoy the Fiat 500 Electric from 30,990 euros – but then there is only the measly battery with a capacity of 24 kWh. For the large battery Fiat requires 4000 euros extra. For another 3000 euros there is even the open version. The most expensive option in the trio discussed here is the Honda e, with a base price of at least 39,900 euros. For this he comes up with the camera-based exterior mirrors and a panoramic roof free of charge.
Nevertheless: cheap pleasure are not electrically powered small cars. And while their ranges are okay now, they’re still not overwhelming. Let’s see where the battery-electric small car will be in another ten years.
