Mathieu's tests: Dacia Spring is the cheapest electric car on the market, what is it worth?

17.Euros, une autonomie contenue, une puissance aussi légère que son niveau de finition et d'équipement: l'équation tentée par Dacia, et donc le groupe Renault, pour démocratiser la voiture électrique, tient-elle la route ? J'ai roulé une semaine avec la Spring, voici mes conclusions.

For two years, I have been trying all the first models of electric car from the manufacturers.And it must be recognized: they are generally relatively luxurious cars, the prices of which largely exceed 50.Euros (Polestar, Audi, Mercedes, Porsche).Sometimes we are in the 35.Euros (Renault Zoe, VW ID.3, aiways), but never below.Therefore, I was looking forward to the arrival of the Dacia Spring, the first affordable electrical model of the Romanian subsidiary of the Renault group.And I was really not disappointed!

17.000 € and acceptable comfort

The Dacia Spring is a Dacia located between the Sandero and its Stepway variant in terms of design, and the small petrol engine has been removed to insert an electric motor and batteries.It is not very large, but not too small: 4 people can take place there (not 5 because there are only two belts at the back), and the trunk is quite spacious (290 liters).

The price of the spring is necessarily more important than that of its little sisters: 17.190 € basic price, against 9.390 € for the basic Sandero.

To reach such a low price with an electric car, you should know that Spring is the inexpensive reuse of a model provided for India (Renault Kwid) that the group is electrifying and building in China.

Well logical concessions

Of course, Dacia requires, you have to be satisfied with simplicity.We go to the essentials.But at this floor price for an electric car in Belgium, not enough to take offense, you will see it.

First of all, power: 45 horsepower is little.In my opinion, a car must be sober to relieve the battery as much as possible, but there, it's just.Accelerations are low, even crushing the pedal.Some confirmations in figures: 0 to 100 km/h requires 19 seconds, against 40.5 seconds per 1.000 m in order arrested.The top speed is 125 km/h.

Nothing abnormal, that said, for a car with such a small battery (only 27.4 kWh and 200 kg), against double (often) or triple (sometimes) in more opulent electric cars.As for the driving style, it cannot be dynamic, because the body height is a little raised, and the wheels are very narrow: Taking a too fast turn is not a reassuring experience ... Good point, however: itThere is an effective energy recovery at braking.It is managed automatically and is well calibrated.

Another concession: the very light finish.We are in a Dacia environment: nothing badly done, but everything is simplified, both in terms of materials (a lot of hard plastic, necessarily) as well as the quantity of options.However, there is in the Comfort version more than I tried (18.190 €) An honorable infotainment taking the form of a 7 -inch touch screen (even navigation is included and it is carplay and Android Auto compatible), a reversing camera and radars, electric windows at the front andmechanical air conditioning, and emergency braking.That's almost everything, but it's the basis.I just regret the absence of a central armrest.

225 km of autonomy, but a big advantage: it quickly takes care of

We said: the power of the Dacia Spring (45 hp) is low, while its weight is contained (1.050 kg empty, 1.300 kg of total rolling weight).It therefore allows its small battery to reach a 230 km range, which is reasonable for an electric car sold 17.Euros.And these are 230 "real" kilometers: no evaporation along the way, everything remained in accordance with the announcements during my test week.I managed to reach an average of 11 kWh per 100 km normally riding (a little city and Brussels ring limited to 90 km/h), which is a record concerning me.

225 km, it seems however very limited for those who roll a hundred kilometers a day (this is my case: 80 km to go to work and come back, more possible small additional trips).Many of you look up to the sky right now: it is impossible to find a charging station every two days so as not to (too) stress and recover acceptable autonomy.

But it is to forget an essential, although logical data: a 27.4 kWh battery takes care quickly!I did the test: after rolling about 100 km, I arrive at RTL with a remaining autonomy displaying 130 km.I take out the charger supplied which plugs into a simple power outlet, I find an available in the parking lot, and the dashboard displays the very reassuring mention: "5.35 necessary to find the full load", so to recover100 km.5h35 load with "a beast taken" for 100 km of autonomy, this is the best in terms of electric car.

Where I want to come: if the autonomy of this small battery worries you, you can be partially reassured by the fact that this small battery, of course, takes care of current electric cars much faster;and that the charge at home (or at work) becomes a very logical option, ultimately.You can always look for quick terminals (50 kW maximum), they will allow you a load of 0 to 100% in a big half hour.But it is no longer an obligation day by day, and that changes everything!

Conclusions

For me, after having tried many fairly heavy electric cars, quite luxurious, powerful and therefore necessarily quite expensive, the Dacia Spring is finally a reasonable proposition in every sense of the word.

17.000 € for a basic electric car, with a autonomy certainly limited (230 km), but which is offset by a great ease of load (a simple power outlet and about 5:30 am enough to recover 100 km of autonomy, that is what isGenerally necessary for a normal day), these are unpublished figures in the short existence of the history of the electric automobile.

It is simply the cheapest electric car on the market in Belgium, and it finally makes this means of transport accessible to the greatest number.May it cause a click and lower all market prices ...