Electrification is raising new challenges for compact models, as costly batteries push carmakers toward large, luxury EVs with high price tags.
It’s 4 p.m. on a wet Monday in southeast London, and we’re trying to parallel park uphill, a necessary if unpleasant rite of passage for any city driver. Our electric car, a bright red Ora Funky Cat, has been through a battery of such rites today — hauling furniture, ferrying passengers, avoiding pedestrians — and takes to London’s streets like it was made for them. On the slippery surface of a narrow road, the Ora EV excels: At just over 4 meters (13 feet), it’s easy to parallel park.
The Funky Cat is a head-turning EV with a fun design to match its name; there’s a hint of Porsche in the flared front fenders and squat haunches. The Asian-made car, which went on sale last fall, is also prowling around a sweet spot in the UK’s EV market: models small and light enough that a modest battery can push them a decent distance. Of the 72 electric cars available in the UK, nine have batteries with a capacity under 50 kWh. Just two EVs in the US do.
The UK has a long tradition of popular small cars, perhaps best exemplified by an iconic Mini Cooper chase scene in 1969’s British classic, The Italian Job.
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Although electric cars are almost as old as the automobile itself, they didn’t become a worthy alternative to ICE vehicles until Li-ion batteries changed everything. These energy storage devices help power everything around us, from watches to electric cars and even cities. Let’s see how EV battery evolved and where it’s leading us.
Electric vehicles are now promoted as humankind’s best tool to curb global warming and reduce pollution inside cities. Not everyone is convinced they are the best solution, but electric vehicles have advantages over their ICE counterparts. These start with lower operating costs and are boosted by the fact that EVs can turn about 90% of the energy consumed to charge them into mechanical work. If this sounds unrealistic, remember that EVs can recoup during braking an important part (more than 20%) of the used energy and feed it back into the battery.
Electric vehicles are disadvantaged in certain areas, with the most talked about being limited range, long recharging times, and high prices. If you group them like that, you’ll notice that the advantages stem from using electricity, while the disadvantages are all generated by their Li-ion batteries. Once you realize that, it’s a no-brainer that the auto industry should channel its efforts into improving the batteries that power electric vehicles to make everyone happy.
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The Abarth 500e launches the Italian brand into the world of electric hot hatches – but is it more fun than a MINI Electric?
Can an electric car be fun to drive? EV powertrains have proved on countless road tests that they’re smooth, quiet and efficient, but delivering a fun drive is still something of a challenge. It’s an issue that car makers will need to address when it comes to electric hot hatchbacks.
This is a market where qualities such as excitement, feedback and character matter, so a hot EV will need to be pretty special to make an impact.
The Abarth 500e is one of the first true electric hot hatches on the market, and to find out whether it has what it takes, we’re lining it up against one of the most entertaining small EVs we’ve tried so far.
In all its forms, the MINI is a charming city car, but it’s also loads of fun to take to the nearest B-road. So which is best? We find out in our real-world test.
Abarth 500e
The Fiat 500e won our hearts when it was launched, thanks to not just its quality and style, but also its relatively low list price. However, the Abarth model is a more expensive prospect. The Turismo trim of our test car starts at £38,195.
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BMW Group has announced that it plans to invest more than £600 million in its Oxford and Swindon MINI factories to develop a “new generation of electric MINIs”.
With the ban on Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) car sales coming into force in 2030, many car manufacturers are preparing for the transition, and BMW says that by 2030, production at its UK factories will be exclusively electric.
BMW says it is gearing up to build two new all-electric models of MINI from 2026: the MINI Cooper 3-door and the compact MINI Aceman. By 2030, BMW says it will have spent over £3 billion on its Swindon, Hams Hall and Oxford plants since 2000.
Citroen Ami (Source: uk-mediacitroen.com)
BMW says the development of its UK plants “has been supported by the UK Government”. The Financial Times reported that “The investment by the German carmaker at the site in Cowley will be backed by about £75 million of taxpayer funds, according to people familiar with the matter.”
The Oxford MINI plant has also recently celebrated its 110th anniversary this year, and has been producing the MINI Electric since 2019.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak hailed the announcement, saying it was a “major vote of confidence in our car sector”.
Business and Trade Secretary Kemi Badenoch said, “This decision is a big vote of confidence in the UK economy and the work of this Government to ensure the continued strength of our world-leading automotive sector.
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The Mini Electric – like a Georgian-style country house that’s just been built – takes appealing retro aesthetics and gives them a thoroughly modern twist.
In fact, while the Mini has its roots in the Fifties, this version of the car has the heart of a Generation Z eco-warrior. It runs purely on electricity as the name suggests, yet – with 181bhp – it’s more powerful than the petrol-powered Cooper S.
MINI Electric
By electric car standards, it’s attractively priced, managing to undercut a lot of its rivals, including the Honda E. However, before you rush to put down your deposit, it’s worth bearing in mind a couple of things.
Firstly, one of the reasons the Mini Electric can be temptingly priced is that it doesn’t have a very big battery, and the official range is only around 145 miles. You won’t even get that far in real-world driving, and don’t expect Tesla-esque charging speeds when you do need a top-up.
Secondly, squeezing the battery under the rear seats has reduced the amount of space in the back compared with a conventionally powered Mini (and there wasn’t a huge amount to begin with).
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Small electric cars make a lot of sense for commuting, city life and slashing your running costs. Here, we pick out the best ones to buy in the UK right now
Electric cars have also come a long way since the infamous G-Wiz arrived on the scene, especially when it comes to the most compact EVs on the market today. Thanks largely to big improvements in the package of EVs and the amount of range available from their batteries, carmakers can build more convincing and usable small zero-emissions models.
Plus, since small EVs have smaller batteries on board, charging them up is quick, and you can expect your running costs to be far cheaper than even the most economical small petrol cars. However, electric cars, even ones this size, are still more expensive to buy than their petrol-powered counterparts, so it’s worth considering the purchase price as well as the running costs when you buy.
Peugeot e-208 (Image: Peugeot)
It’s only a matter of time before the gap closes though, with sub-£20,000 EVs on the way from Volkswagen, Cupra and Renault, to name but a few. If you are concerned about cost, you can check out our list of the cheapest electric cars you can buy right now – but you’re here for the best small electric cars, so read on to find out our top picks.
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The world is about to pass an important milestone in electric vehicle adoption, which will help combat the rise in worldwide emissions
Pandemic restrictions in 2020 caused the largest absolute drop in carbon-dioxide pollution from energy use since the Second World War. However, lockdowns eventually lifted, and as economic activity picked up, emissions resumed quickly by the year’s end. In December, worldwide emissions were 2% higher than the same month in 2019, according to new data from the International Energy Agency.
On the other hand, electricity generated from the sun and wind reached a record 20% of the mix of global energy sources for the first time, and electric vehicles (EVs) sold in record numbers.
MINI Cooper Concept (Image: MINI)
At the moment, the world is about to pass an important milestone in electric vehicle adoption: 20 million plug-in vehicles are on the road globally, according to BNEF estimates. That’s a remarkable growth from only 1 million EVs on roads in 2016.
In the second half of 2022, almost a million EVs a month will be added to the global fleet, according to BNEF estimates. Vehicles eventually get retired from the fleet due to age, wear-and-tear, crashes and battery degradation. But that’s not a big part of the EV story so far, mostly because the majority of EVs in the global fleet were sold in the past 18 months. By the end of 2022, BNEF is expecting over 26 million plug-in vehicles on the road.
China accounts for 46% of the total sales to date, followed by Europe at 34%. North America is at third place with 15%, but policy support should get the EV market moving this year and next. All the remaining countries combined account for 5% of the global EV fleet.
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One of the biggest concerns about electric cars is what happens to the batteries
They are historically difficult to recycle and could result in waste mountains . BMW UK has partnered with Off Grid Energy to provide second-life solutions for batteries decommissioned from its electric cars. Batteries are being used by the energy storage firm for mobile charging stations. Prototype device has been built using lithium-ion modules from a Mini Electric.
One of the biggest criticisms of electric cars is what happens to their high-powered batteries once they degrade and have to be decommissioned from plug-in vehicles.
Not only are EV batteries expensive for owners to replace, high-skilled workforces are required to extract valuable metals inside them, and even then they are difficult to recycle – and this could lead to huge waste mountains, experts have warned.
German car maker BMW says it has found a resolution for its high-mileage electric vehicles, giving their batteries a second-life use as mobile power units to provide charging solutions for other plug-in cars.
BMW i3 and i3S 120Ah (Image: BMW Group)
The auto brand will supply a British energy storage firm with decommissioned battery modules from electric BMW and Mini models that can be used in mobile power units.
The aim is to provide a sustainable second-use model for the batteries, which lose capacity over time and after years of use are deemed no longer efficient for electric cars.
As part of a new partnership with the car giant, Off Grid Energy has produced its first prototype mobile charging device, which is powered by lithium-ion battery modules extracted from a Mini Electric development vehicle.
It has a 40kWh capacity delivering a 7.2kW fast charge and will be used at BMW and Mini UK events over the next year.
As more battery modules become available over time, it says it can produce combined systems with a capacity of up to 180kWh from multiple electric vehicle batteries, which will be able to provide charges at rates of up to 50kW.
‘When these units are used to displace conventional ways of generating temporary power, the battery modules will at least double the CO2 reduction achieved in their original use in the car, continuing their positive impact in reducing carbon emissions,’ says the energy storage company.
Commenting on the partnership, Graeme Grieve, ceo at BMW Group UK, said: ‘BMW Group will have 25 electrified models on the roads by 2023 – half of them fully electric.
‘We are delighted to work with Off Grid Energy to find a sustainable way of continuing to use these valuable batteries, even after they have put in many years of service in our electrified cars.’
Like many electric models on the market, batteries in BMW and Mini cars have a warranty of eight years or 100,000 miles.
After this period the battery could still retain up to 80 per cent of its initial capacity, according to the vehicle maker.
However, it concedes that it is ‘inevitable’ that as EVs get older their batteries will no longer function at an optimum level for the car.
According to battery degradation calculations by Canadian firm Geotab, the average capacity loss for electric and plug-in hybrid cars is an estimated 12 per cent after six years – essentially dropping 2 per cent capacity annually.
BMW says despite its car batteries declining in performance – significant enough to retire the unit from a vehicle – it can continue to serve a secondary use purpose as a mobile power source as part of its sustainability and resource efficiency strategy.
BMW Group ceo, Oliver Zipse, said: ‘How we use resources will decide the future of our society – and of the BMW Group. As a premium car company, it is our ambition to lead the way in sustainability. That is why we are taking responsibility here and now.’
Earlier this year, Warwick University announced it had created a ‘fast grading’ system for second-life car batteries to determine if they could be purposed after being decommissioned from vehicles, using Nissan Leaf EV power supplies for the study.
If the battery’s end of life capacity is less than 70 per cent, the report says they can be reused for less demanding second life applications such as domestic and industrial energy storage.
The university said: ‘Graded second-life battery packs can provide reliable and convenient energy storage options to a range of customers: from electric roaming products – providing electricity for customers on the move, to home storage products – enabling customers with solar panels to store their energy generated.
‘More crucially, the packs can be used for storage allowing increased intermittent renewable energy sources on the grid, without putting security of supply at risk.’
Professor David Greenwood from WMG, University of Warwick, added: ‘Automotive batteries deliver some great environmental benefits, but they consume a lot of resources in doing so.
‘Opening up a second life for batteries improves both the environmental and the economic value we draw from those resources before they need recycling.’
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As it turns out, not all electric cars are created equal
Electric cars are not absolute newcomers to the car industry anymore. Over the past five years or so, most carmakers have churned out at least one electric car with plans to release a handful of others over the coming decade or so. The charging infrastructure has grown, too.
While this is obviously good news, it also leaves us (and the customer) with quite a big pond of EVs to choose from. To add more to the confusion and indecision, electric cars come in all shapes and sizes, set in motion by just one electric motor, two, or even three, and, obviously, very different price tags. Long story short, picking your next electric car might leave you scratching the top of your head. We get it.
Fret not, though. We’ve been kindly invited by Romania’s leading car outlet, Automarket, to an eight-day, eight-car real-life experiment that set out to discover just how good (or bad) the latest electric cars are in actual traffic both in and outside the city. What followed was to be known as Electric Romania 2020, basically a workshop on wheels powered by Vitesco Technologies, joined by other partners such as Michelin. The experience helped us better digest and understand both the strengths and shortcomings of today’s electric car: range-wise but also in terms of comfort, dynamics, user friendliness, tech-savviness, and overall liveability.
Porsche Taycan Turbo S (Image: Porsche)
This is where I started feeling like doing my dissertation paper all over again. Firstly, Electric Romania was thought out and designed as a tour of Romania done with EVs.
In case you’re asking why eight days, well, the backbone of the tour consisted of eight cars – all launched in 2020 on the Romanian market – and 14 journalists and content creators that would sample the said cars.
Basically, you got to drive another car each day, and the end of which you had to fill in a form with various bits of information: distance travelled, total time of travel, charging times, how much battery you had left at the destination, how much electricity went into the battery during charging, average speed, and so on.
So, each electric car was put through its paces over eight days, but every time by a different driver with a completely different set of driving habits than the one before him and on a different route. This included highways, winding A- and B-roads through the mountainside and hillside, as well as flat, plain-splitting roads where the elevation didn’t change much.
As for the car lineup itself, this is it, in the exact order we drove them:
Porsche Taycan
Renault Zoe
Volkswagen ID.3
Audi e-tron Sportback
Hyundai Kona Electric
Kia e-Niro
Mini Cooper SE
Peugeot e-2008
From here on, each car’s battery pack, electric motor (or motors), range, other specs as well as driving impressions will be presented as it follows.
Porsche had to get its first electric car right. And good God, it did. The Taycan Turbo is not just a flurry of performance, but a smile magnet. Sitting behind the wheel in the handful of traffic jams that slowed us down is the best way to enjoy the most honest smiles I’ve been treated with in a luxury car. Some people see you in Mercedes-AMG S63 or in a Panamera Turbo and you can just read either envy or loathing on their faces. With the Taycan, it’s the complete opposite: candid, genuine smiles from folks of all ages, walking on the street or driving in the next lane.
When you’re not sitting in a traffic jam, the Taycan Turbo’s personality can flip from tame to psycho as quick as it can go from naught to 60 mph: three seconds flat with Launch Control, on its way to a top speed of 260 kph (162 mph). The acceleration is brutal. You can easily squeeze a lot of squeal out of the wider-than-life rear tires from a standstill and with a drop of bad luck, you can even fracture a vertebra before the electronic nannies kick in or you decide to lift off. Even at highway speeds, smashing the accelerator will make the Taycan squat then shoot straight up ahead. The back of your head never leaves the headrest. Even if it wants, it can’t. At this point, I’m scared just thinking of what the Turbo S can do.
For a car this wide and long, city cruising is surprisingly swift and easy, but it’s the outer roads that make your spine tingle inside the Taycan. When on, the Launch Control feature triggers the Overboost function that unlocks the Turbo’s 500 kilowatts (670 hp, 680 PS) and 850 Newton-meters (627 pound-feet) coming from two electric motors fed by the 83.7-kWh battery pack (that’s the net, usable capacity – gross capacity according to Porsche literature is 93.4 kWh).
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Ten years ago, Mini experimented with an all-electric car which it called the Mini E.
We tested it, even though it never went on general sale, because instead it went to companies and selected members of the public who undertook real-world trials of the car.
Now Mini is producing a proper full production EV.
MINI Electric
It’s called the Mini Electric and uses the three-door body style.
You can bet that the other models will soon be electrified too.
The key news is that the battery pack is fitted into the Mini without robbing the car of any legroom or luggage space.
This is a relief because the three-door hatchback isn’t the most spacious of small cars as it is.
Driving the front wheels is a 182bhp electric motor which ironically is the same horsepower as the 2.0-litre petrol engine in the Cooper S – but electrification has added 145kg of weight.
Mini claims a range of between 124 and 144 miles. On our test drive in Oxfordshire in cold and windy weather, we got nearer 100 miles.
But data gleaned from current Mini owners revealed that, on average, they drive no more than 25 miles a day so this range will be entirely adequate.
The Mini Electric is supplied with a three-pin domestic charging cable. But most owners will want to buy a wallbox for home and a 11kW cable.
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