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Citroen C-Zero

Citroen reveals its version of the Mitsubishi i – complete with an electric engine!

Citroen C-Zero

10th November 2009

TAKE a look at Citroen's first plug-in baby. This is the C-ZERO – a fully fledged zero emission electric car that will reach Citroen showrooms next year.

If it looks familiar that's because it's essentially identical to Mitsubishi's i-MIEV and the Citroen version gets the same drivetrain, with a 64bhp electric motor powered by a lithium-ion battery.

Owners can charge the C-ZERO by plugging it directly into a household socket, and a full charge takes six hours. An 80 per cent charge is possible in just 30 minutes using a 400V supply. Citroen says the C-Zero can do 0-62mph in 15 seconds, accelerate from 37-56mph (50-70km/h) in six seconds and hit a maximum of 80mph. It also has a range of 80 miles.

Standard features include power steering, ABS, traction control, ESP, electric windows, six airbags and air conditioning. Sales of the C-ZERO start at the end of 2010 and although no prices have been confirmed expect to pay around £10,000 for the zero emission machine.


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4 Comments

honesty please!

I hope someone takes citroen to task for labelling its car as having "zero emissions" of CO2. What about the electricity that is required to charge the car? A bit more honesty is called for. Of course, all transport methods are responsible for CO2 - there's nothing wrong with that, but lets not claim that cars can be operated with no emissions. In general the focus on CO2 emissions alone over-simplifies the debate on driving and sustainability. If I drive a high-emissions car on short journeys outside peak hours with no congestion, then it could be argued that the environmental impact is less than someone driving a low-emissions car during peak hours, contributing to poor air quality and congestion.

By braisim on 13 November, 2009, 12:00pm

Not Enough Research

An all electric vehicle, very commendable but I'd be very seriously worried about buying a car like this with no other conventional means of power to drive it. It's common knowledge that deterioration of a battery, no matter what its make-up, occurs over a relatively short period of time. There is still nothing available that will sustain a journey of over approx 80 odd miles which ok, for town use will probably cover most eventualities, BUT, there are still a lot of people who for one reason or another find it necessary to drive for distances longer than this very occasionally and this car isn't going to cut it. It would also worry me since this is the only source of power this car has, that in the recent cold weather, every visual aid, e.g. rear window heater, front window demister with the additional help of the air con, lights on etc, not to mention front and rear wipers, will shorten the available mileage considerably, even allowing for regenerative braking. The aforementioned deterioration of the battery/batteries will most probably occur when least expected and of course this usually means that the poor unfortunate driver will be nowhere near to a domestic power supply for recharging. Citroen quote that it is possible to recharge the battery installation by 80 per cent in 30 minutes using a 400V supply, GREAT, but if this car is going to be sold in the UK, then the maximum voltage all over the UK, unless there is something I don't know is only 240V. Maybe there is some kind of transformer involved which is capable of changing this factor, I don't know, but I really don't think anywhere near enough research has gone into this technology.

Braisim also has a valid point. No one ever thinks about the fact that no matter how CO2 efficient the car might be, the power and thus CO2 generated by not only the manufacturer of the batteries necessary to power the car in the first place, but the CO2 emitted by subsequent owners recharging their cars is never accounted for. You only have to refer back a relatively short while to the debate over the Toyota Prius. If one wanted to be really anal about all this, it could be argued that everything mentioned above is contrary to the Sale Of Goods Act as the goods are not as described. I'm sure I could quote other similar contraventions of said act if I could be bothered to look them up.

This car isn't going to solve anything and it could be a hindrance rather than a help.

By nick7 on 22 December, 2009, 6:05pm

Not Enough Research

An all electric vehicle, very commendable but I'd be very seriously worried about buying a car like this with no other conventional means of power to drive it. It's common knowledge that deterioration of a battery, no matter what its make-up, occurs over a relatively short period of time. There is still nothing available that will sustain a journey of over approx 80 odd miles which ok, for town use will probably cover most eventualities, BUT, there are still a lot of people who for one reason or another find it necessary to drive for distances longer than this very occasionally and this car isn't going to cut it. It would also worry me since this is the only source of power this car has, that in the recent cold weather, every visual aid, e.g. rear window heater, front window demister with the additional help of the air con, lights on etc, not to mention front and rear wipers, will shorten the available mileage considerably, even allowing for regenerative braking. The aforementioned deterioration of the battery/batteries will most probably occur when least expected and of course this usually means that the poor unfortunate driver will be nowhere near to a domestic power supply for recharging. Citroen quote that it is possible to recharge the battery installation by 80 per cent in 30 minutes using a 400V supply, GREAT, but if this car is going to be sold in the UK, then the maximum voltage all over the UK, unless there is something I don't know is only 240V. Maybe there is some kind of transformer involved which is capable of changing this factor, I don't know, but I really don't think anywhere near enough research has gone into this technology.

Braisim also has a valid point. No one ever thinks about the fact that no matter how CO2 efficient the car might be, the power and thus CO2 generated by not only the manufacture of the batteries necessary to power the car in the first place, but the CO2 emitted by subsequent owners recharging their cars is never accounted for. You only have to refer back a relatively short while to the debate over the Toyota Prius. If one wanted to be really anal about all this, it could be argued that everything mentioned above is contrary to the Sale Of Goods Act as the goods are not as described. I'm sure I could quote other similar contraventions of said act if I could be bothered to look them up.

This car isn't going to solve anything and it could be a hindrance rather than a help.

By nick7 on 22 December, 2009, 6:23pm

3-phase!

The answer to your question is that mains supplies in the UK are 3 phase; the line to neutral voltage is indeed 230vAC, but the voltage betwen phases is the vector sum of two 230 volt phases at 120 degrees; this works out to 380vAC - nearly 400 volts. Down your road, each third house is connected to the same phase, so if you were to put an AC voltmeter between you and your neighbour's live wire it would read not zero as you might expect, but 380vAC.

By Ironic on 28 January, 2010, 10:30pm

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