Dacia Spring Extreme Electric 65 review

Dacia Spring

Dacia Spring Extreme Electric 65 review.

For – finally an affordable EV. Does everything most motorists require.
Against – useless on the highway, but who cares?
Competition – nothing, yet.
*****
Price – starts at £15,000

“I’ve seen the future, it’s affordable, and it works”. 

After spending a few days with the Dacia Spring, I found myself mouthing that famous old quote (with the “affordable” addition). I’ve driven more than 40 electric cars over the last few years. Each time I ended up frustrated. They all failed to live up to their promises. They all sought to seduce buyers with absurd claims they were equal or better than traditional internal combustion engine technology. Not only were they much too expensive, they all failed the long-range autoroute challenge and other important tests.

The Spring is also hopeless on the highway, but it doesn’t matter.  It simply offers what the technology does best – short-range, urban stuff like shopping, the school run and commuting – at a truly affordable price. (note to Auto industry – €30,000, the average starting price for a new EV is not “affordable”. Please stop saying it is)

The cheapest Spring costs £14,995.

For an entry-level vehicle it doesn’t quite match the price of old ICE technology candidates like the Renault Twingo, Ford Ka and Fiesta, Citroen C1, Peugeot 108, and SEAT Mii. These have now been priced out of the market by the EU’s green zealot politicians. The Spring is the first EV to have pretensions of affordability. 

Now it may well be that by 2030, EV technology will use solid-state batteries to outclass ICE vehicles but the industry is nowhere near that yet. The Spring, imported by Renault’s Dacia value brand from China, is the first EV to bid for the mass market. Governments in Europe have decided that EV technology will soon be the only game in town – 80% of new car sales by 2030, 100% by 2035. With current technology, there is no chance of achieving that. The only possible route means a rapid switch away from huge, unaffordable (but profitable) electric behemoths to seriously cheap city cars. 

China has developed entry-level EVs, like the BYD Seagull (now renamed the Dolphin Mini), Wuling Bingo and a Leapmotor. EU tariffs seem to have scuppered any chance of them showing up here. 

The Spring battery struggled to meet the claimed range of 140 miles. I managed to fill it to an average 125.8 miles from my home charger, but that’s still enough to meet every day needs. The car’s range monitor seemed to have a mind of its own. One route over rolling Sussex countryside with the regenerative braking engaged removed 38 miles of range over a 24-mile route. Another similar route only removed 27 miles from a 38-mile route. The range monitor seemed to move slowly at first then gather speed after about 80 miles. A brief excursion on a motorway was horrendous, losing range at more than a 50% rate. The Spring was a spritely performer at speed. But if you venture onto fast roads, make sure you quickly get back on to home territory. 

But none of this range and battery information matters because the Spring is designed to be an urban vehicle for the majority of motorists who never travel more than 30 miles a day. 

The Spring’s styling is cute and attractive and it rides high for such a small car. It is very well equipped with a prominent 7” media screen. The cabin is a bit basic but this is an economy machine. There’s not much room in the back, two plus two kids. The ride was surprisingly rugged and effectively ignored our third-world bumps and potholes. The steering was a bit vague, but so what. In a vehicle that is priced to go, the nifty wind-screen wiper (note the singular) seemed more like something designed for Mercedes, as the single blade swept impressively across the screen. There were more traditional buttons and switches than the need to swipe, another good thing. There was no parking mode. You just have to select neutral. When you slam the doors, they sound a bit tinny.  

The range in the U.K. starts at £14,995 for the Expression Electric 45 (hp), the more powerful Expression Electric 65 (hp) is priced at £15,995, and this slightly better specified Extreme Electric 65 goes for £16,995.

What to buy? 
This is an easy question to answer because currently the Spring is the only contender in this cut-price segment. The European industry is planning “cheaper” EVs, but the Spring is the only contender so far.  When you look at the Chinese contenders, many are priced below €10,000 for their home market but would need extra spending to bring them up to EU safety standards. This European failure is down to a couple of reasons. The EU standards for EVs allowed the big manufacturers to build heavy and profitable vehicles, but this was a mistake. For the EV revolution to succeed manufacturers need to stop making high-priced vehicles and concentrate on bare-bones products which are closer to luxury golf carts than traditional autos. Given no manufacturer in Europe seems capable of meeting this market perhaps we need a completely different approach from a manufacturer new to the automotive business. This new era of mobility requires a €10,000 “golf-cart” with windows and doors, high safety, 100-mile range, 65 mph max, 2+2 kids. 

“I’ve seen the future and it works”, said the American journalist Joseph Steffens after returning from the Soviet Union in the early 1920s. Unfortunately, the phrase is associated with rose-tinted judgement hiding a grotesque reality. Surely that won’t happen with EVs? 

Dacia Spring