Thinking about buying an electric car is, for many, synonymous with buying a headache. First for the purchase price, second for autonomy and third for the charging network, for the moment, insufficient for most users. And that is why when a car is capable of crossing off the list two of the three problems, it is angry that it does not arrive in Spain to solve them, which is the case of the new Citroën ë-C3a small electric SUV with more than 300 kilometers of autonomy and affordable destined for India and Brazil, but it is not perfect.
And although it is true that the French SUV would not be the ideal car to cover long kilometers, yes it can be for daily use in the city. After all, this is a car whose main competitor is the Dacia Spring, a category in which vehicles advocate being more austere than refined electric, although it is somewhat understandable given the price range in which they move.
The Citroën ë-C3 has a solution to many electric car problems, but we will not see them applied in Spain
In design, little or nothing changes with respect to what we already find in a conventional C3, maintaining a language and an interior practically traced. And it is that at the end of the day the novelty of this ë-C3 is found in its technical section, which has as its starting point the e-CMP platform and as the main high point an LFP type battery.
What main advantage does this have? Much less degradation than we could experience with a conventional battery, as well as greater reliability. This specifically has 29.2 kWh of capacityand is responsible for feeding a motor of 42 kW of power, or what is the same, 58 CV, a figure that allows the ë-C3 to reach a top speed of 107 km/h.
It is a figure that limits its use to the urban world, but it does not have another objective either. And this is also demonstrated by its autonomy with a total of 315 kilometers under the ARAI cyclea figure with which the SUV of the two chevrons can flirt after 57 minutes of charging, time with which it will have recovered 80% of its battery capacity.
Logically one expects, after these rather modest features, an affordable price, and despite the fact that Citroën has not yet made any statements about the price of its electric SUV, it can already be reserved for 281 euros. This suggests that the final disbursement will not be high, being able to flirt with 14,000 or even 13,000 euros.
However, Does a car like the Citroën ë-C3 really make sense in Europe? First we must take into account that it solves the problem of the high price of the electric car as it is a fairly simple and spartan vehicle; second, that it offers autonomy according to its characteristics and use, and third, that it is not necessary to invest a long amount of time to recover its usability.
No, it is not a perfect car, nor is it a car that allows us to do without a combustion vehicle unless we are going to carry out unique and exclusively urban driving, which is, after all, what the ë- is designed for. C3. Without further pretensions.
Be that as it may, and although Citroën has not yet confirmed it, most likely, the ë-C3 will end up making an appearance in Europe. It will do so under another name, with some revision of its mechanical and aesthetic section but, fundamentally, with the same essence to try to wrest sales from the Dacia Spring and establish itself as one of the forerunners of the beginning of the end of electric car problems, although that Yes, with the limitations that a car like the French SUV has.
