New Amble One electric buggy channels the old beach car spirit

With the rise in popularity of vinyl records, film cameras, and ever-escalating prices for old cassette Walkmans in recent years, it’s only a matter of time before the trend for simpler tech makes its way into cars. Some are thinking that way already, if the Amble One is anything to go by. 

Drawing on the simplicity of old ‘beach cars’ like the Mini Moke and Citroen Mehari, but driven by thoroughly modern electric power, the pared-back Amble One is pitched as a vehicle that connects you to the world around you, rather than just another place for you to connect to the internet.

Obviously, a vehicle with no doors, a pretty vestigial roof, and not even any seatbelts isn’t aiming to take over the market and replace your everyday commuter car, but Amble quite rightly points out that across the world millions of people make trips that don’t really need a full car. If you live on a sunny little island or by the coast or in a small and pretty low-speed village or neighbourhood, or have a hotel and want to shuttle visitors around easily, two tonnes of metal and 500 horsepower is overkill.

The One is more similar in ethos to vehicles like the Microlino, Renault Twizy or Citroen Ami as a result. It’s 3.2 metres long, a touch more than a classic Mini, weighs a Twizy-like (i.e. heavy quadricycle class) 450kg. It’s powered by a 15kW/20bhp electric motor, which gives it just a little more urge than the little tandem-seat Renault had and allows for a 40mph top speed.

The 12kWh battery pack is smaller than you’ll find in most plug-in hybrid cars, but with little weight to push along, range is still claimed at more than 100km (62 miles). If you live by the beach in Bali, surely the kind of environment in which the Amble One is perfect (especially on those chunky 28-inch ATV-like tyres), 62 miles could last you a month.

There isn’t much to delineate interior from exterior in a vehicle like this but the cabin’s as simple as they come, and really channels that old Mini Moke feeling. The dashboard is a horizontal bar with some storage bags slung underneath it, while ahead of the driver is a three-spoke wheel, a small bank of physical controls, and a round digital instrument display. If you want a touchscreen, you’ll need to bring along an iPad.

Various mounting points throughout the vehicle are pre-prepared for attaching other accessories, with big tactile-looking orange screws to strap on bags, luggage racks, pockets and more. And there will be a little bit of weatherproofing available, with thin doors to close up the gaps in the sides.

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The company, set up in Portugal by former Audi and Apple designer Julian Hoenig, is suggesting a price tag of around €20,000 or $25,000. With variances in exchange rates that’s in the £17,000-£19,000 ballpark, though that’s also before taxes, so bank on over £20k if it’s offered in the UK.

That’s more than twice the price of a Citroen Ami but then it seats twice the number of people and goes a bit faster, which seems fair. Amble says production for 2027 has already been allocated and it’s accepting orders for 2028, with deliveries also commencing in 2028. It might not be ideal for a winter commute in Birmingham, but if the recent warm weather has given you a more laid-back outlook on life, maybe the Amble One might be the perfect way to pop to the shops during the summer.

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