“The £16k Dacia Spring is an electric car game-changer”
With many people claiming electric cars are just too expensive, editor-in-chief Steve Fowler thinks the Dacia Spring’s arrival in the UK is exactly what we need
I’m well aware of the sentiments of many of you towards electric cars – in spite of our Government’s desire for us to make the switch. Your views are also reflected in the current sluggish sales of EVs.
But when I asked you a few weeks ago what it would take to make you want to buy an electric car, an affordable price was one of the overwhelming factors (along with range and accessible charging). EVs are just too expensive.
Enter the Dacia Spring. Here’s a city car-sized EV – which, in my book, looks really attractive, too – that’s set to cost less than half the price of a Vauxhall Corsa Electric. In fact, it’s likely to cost a few thousand pounds less than the cheapest petrol Corsa and around the same as an entry-level Hyundai i10. It’s even possible that our estimated £16k starting price for the Spring is on the high side.
The Spring is built to a price – it won’t have as many squishy plastics as a Corsa and the small battery means a limited range. But honestly, having something like a Spring on the Fowler fleet – alongside another car for longer distances – could work very well for our family; the Dacia could also be cheaper to run than our current small, petrol SUV that’s only doing a few thousand miles a year at most.
And for the huge number of people without off-street charging, a note from Vauxhall this week reminded me how an EV can fit into more people’s lives. Buy any of the brand’s EVs – which, after this week, are looking more expensive than ever – and you’ll get a year’s free charging at your local Tesco. Vauxhall also highlighted that there are over 2,700 chargers at 619 stores across the country. So if, like me, you shop at Tesco, you can take care of a weekly shop and a weekly charge in one visit.
Back to the Spring, though. Importantly, it puts down a marker for the rest of the car industry. If Dacia – owned by Renault, of course – can make a £16k EV, surely everyone can?
What do you think of the Dacia Spring? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section...
