21 votes

The world's most important electric car is launching now, and it's not a Porsche or Tesla - The electric version of Renault's low-cost Kwid

4 comments

  1. mat
    Link
    Under £/$/€9K for a 100+ mile EV? I would buy that. I would very much like to buy that. That would cover probably 99% of my driving needs and I can rent a nice big long distance car for the...

    Under £/$/€9K for a 100+ mile EV?

    I would buy that. I would very much like to buy that. That would cover probably 99% of my driving needs and I can rent a nice big long distance car for the remaining one or two trips a year.

    Now, I just need to find £9K...

    7 votes
  2. [3]
    DanBC
    Link
    Is that the total cost of ownership? In the UK the Renault Twizy has a mandatory battery hire charge imposed, and that's a minimum of £45 per month....

    Starting at 61,800 Yuan, or about $8,700 US Dollars, and its 30kWh Tianjin Lishen battery offers a remarkable 250 km, or 155 miles of NEDC-rated range. Even though this ends up resulting in a likely EPA range closer to about 100 miles, the fact that this eminently usable amount of range is available in a useful and well-proven vehicle for under $10,000 is a remarkable achievement.

    Is that the total cost of ownership? In the UK the Renault Twizy has a mandatory battery hire charge imposed, and that's a minimum of £45 per month. https://www.renault.co.uk/vehicles/new-vehicles/twizy/battery-and-charging.html

    4 votes
    1. Greg
      Link Parent
      It'll be interesting to see what this costs in the UK in general (assuming it meets UK/EU safety standards and gets marketed here), given that the Twizy's base price is already pretty close - once...

      It'll be interesting to see what this costs in the UK in general (assuming it meets UK/EU safety standards and gets marketed here), given that the Twizy's base price is already pretty close - once you start adding luxury items like "doors" to the spec, it's essentially on par. Given how much the market has moved on in the 7 years since it launched, I'm thinking that the Twizy might just be on a legacy pricing model and they'd rather cannibalise their own market than wait for a competitor to do so.

      I'm seeing three main possibilities for the Kwid:

      • It doesn't meet EU safety standards for whatever reason. After 2-4 years of testing and feedback from the Chinese market, they then release an updated EU-spec version.
      • It does meet EU standards, and after taxes and the rest they sell for £/€10k and do a very solid job in the market.
      • It does meet EU standards, but they don't want to sell it outside China because they're worried about the impact on sales of their own more expensive vehicles (probably more ICE than electric). I start a small-time independent import firm, sell them for £/€10k, and make my fortune.
      2 votes
    2. Death
      Link Parent
      Is that £45 per month on top of more maintenance fees? Because a second-hand car will usually set you back a lot in terms of monthly fees as well.

      Is that £45 per month on top of more maintenance fees? Because a second-hand car will usually set you back a lot in terms of monthly fees as well.

      1 vote