Nine electric cars for the city in a range comparison test

by

Article menu

Cheap small electric vehicles tested around Rome

Nine electric cars for the city in a range comparison test-electric

A few years ago, electric cars for the city were still in short supply. Those days are over. There are now offers in abundance. InsideEVs Italy has now sent nine of them to a comparison test.

The scene of the action was the motorway ring around Rome, the Grande Raccordo Anulare (GRA).

The test cars include cars of various classes, but all of them are reasonably priced with base prices below 40,000 euros. The VW e-Up (currently not available in Germany), the Fiat 500 e and the Smart EQ Forfour belong to the small car segment. The small cars include the Mini Cooper SE, the Honda e, the Renault Zoe and the duo Peugeot e-208 and Opel Corsa-e. The Mazda MX-30, on the other hand, already belongs to the compact segment. Here is an overview of the rivals, including battery size and charging properties:

model Battery (gross) Battery (net) Max. Charging power AC Max. Charging power DC
Renault Zoe 54.7 kWh 52.0 kWh 22 kW 50 kW
Peugeot e-208 50.0 kWh 47.0 kWh 11 kW 100 kW
Opel Corsa-e 50.0 kWh 47.0 kWh 11 kW 100 kW
Fiat 500 e 42.0 kWh 37.3 kWh 11 kW 85 kW
VW e-Up 36.8 kWh 32.3 kWh 7.4 kW 40 kW
Honda e 35.5 kWh 30.0 kWh 7.4 kW 100 kW
Mazda MX-30 35.5 kWh 30.0 kWh 6.6 kW 50 kW
Mini Cooper SE 32.6 kWh 28.9 kWh 11 kW 50 kW
Smart EQ Forfour 17.6 kWh 16.7 kWh 4.6 kW –

All cars except the Smart can be charged with direct current (DC) in addition to alternating current (AC). The DC charging power fluctuates between 40 and 100 kW. But a high DC charging power is especially important if you want to drive longer distances with the electric car. It is less important for the city vehicles tested.

More about electric cars: Nine electric cars for the city in a range comparison test-city Electric cars 2020/2021: an overview of all models

Nine electric cars for the city in a range comparison test-range Electric cars: Taycan, ID.3 and Model 3 most suitable for long journeys

The battery capacity divided by the energy consumption gives the range. The vehicles in comparison offer values ​​between 395 km (Renault Zoe) and 130 km (Smart EQ Forfour) – each calculated according to the WLTP standard. The deviations from the standard range in the test were sometimes small, but sometimes considerable.

While the difference in the VW e-Up and Mini Cooper SE was only a few percent, it was almost 30 percent in the Honda e and Renault Zoe. However, with the Zoe, not only the standard range was greatest, but also the practice range. The electric twins from the PSA group and the tiny ones from VW and Fiat also did well:

model Range in the test WLTP range difference
Renault Zoe 290 km 395 km -27%
Opel Corsa-e 276 km 337 km -18%
Peugeot e-208 273 km 340 km -20%
VW e-Up 245 km 260 km -6%
Fiat 500 e 243 km 320 km -24%
Mini Cooper SE 185 km 200 km -8th%
Mazda MX-30 179 km 200 km -11%
Honda e 145 km 200 km -28%
Smart EQ Forfour 109 km 130 km -16%

In practice, the remaining vehicles had a range of less than 200 kilometers. The smallest range – both according to the standard and in the test – had the Smart with little more than 100 kilometers. That's enough for the city, but of course you have to charge more often.

Especially since the test was carried out at moderate temperatures: the thermometer rose from around 9 degrees in the morning at 10 a.m. to 14 degrees at the end of the test. With winter temperatures below zero degrees, significantly lower ranges would be expected. Our gives an indication of the influence of temperature Test of the Tesla Model 3 in summer and winter. The electricity consumption fell from 14.7 kWh in the Italian winter to 11.9 kWh in summer. By the way: The Model 3 also appears in some pictures of the test. That's because the car is the editorial car of Motor1 Italy and InsideEV's Italy.

An important factor in electric city cars is the vehicle weight, which has a large impact on the range. The lighter a car is, the lower its power consumption should be. However, there were a few surprises in the test. For example, the Smart EQ Forfour needed more than the e-Up.

The Mazda MX-30, the heaviest of the cars tested, is also not the vehicle with the highest power consumption. This less than honorable title belongs to the Honda e:

model Power consumption in the test Vehicle weight
VW e-Up 13.6 kWh / 100 km 1,160 kg
Smart EQ Forfour 14.9 kWh / 100 km 1,125 kg
Fiat 500 e 15.5 kWh / 100 km 1,290 kg
Mini Cooper SE 16.0 kWh / 100 km 1,365 kg
Renault Zoe 16.1 kWh / 100 km 1,502 kg
Opel Corsa-e 16.3 kWh / 100 km 1,455 kg
Peugeot e-208 16.4 kWh / 100 km 1,455 kg
Mazda MX-30 18.1 kWh / 100 km 1,645 kg
Honda e 22.0 kWh / 100 km 1,520 kg

InsideEVs Italy has created a Youtube video about the test that we do not want to withhold from you. You can see the English subtitles if you click on the gear wheel in the lower right corner of the video and then select "Subtitles -> English":

Photo gallery: electric city cars in a comparison test

Nine electric cars for the city in a range comparison test-comparison

Related articles

Related articles

Please follow and like us:
error
fb-share-icon
Tweet
fb-share-icon

Leave a Comment