Say hello to the UK's cheapest new electric car – the Dacia Spring.
The Dacia Spring EV will be available to order from Tuesday 4 June, and prospective buyers can currently pre-order through the Dacia website for £99 – which also includes a £250 contribution to accessories, a home charger or public charging.
Dacia's first EV is the UK's cheapest electric car, with prices starting from just £14,995. Two trim levels are available at launch: Expression and Extreme. Standard equipment includes rear parking sensors, air conditioning, LED daytime running lights and a phone holder which turns your phone into a mini infotainment system.
Extreme spec has its own infotainment touchscreen, plus USB sockets, copper accents inside and out, front parking sensors, a reversing camera and electrically adjustable door mirrors.
It may be new to UK buyers, but the Spring has already been out for a few years across Europe and China. This update heavily overhauls the interior and exterior styling to bring it into line with the latest Dacia Duster.
Dacia Spring EV styling
The Romanian carmaker says the Spring's new look is supposed to be 'assertive' and 'robust'. We'll let you be the judge of that but we can see clear influences from the new Duster SUV, like the headlights and front grille that sit in a single wide unit and the geometric body styling.
It might be the same size, shape and weight as a small hatchback, but the Spring has upright styling and a tall ride height, a little like a Suzuki Ignis. This gives it something of a mini-SUV look that'll no doubt prove popular with buyers, as well as a little extra compliance over bumps and kerbs.
Dacia Spring EV interior
Dacia's cabins have always been 'no-frills' to help keep costs down. The story's mostly the same inside the Spring with hard plastics everywhere you look, although you'll spot a couple of nifty details to keep things interesting – the contrast colour panel on the centre console, for example, or the wide 'X' motif in the air vents that matches the headlights.
You now get a digital driver's screen as standard and higher-end models will include a 10-inch touchscreen infotainment system in the middle of the dashboard. We've praised Dacia's infotainment systems in the past for being so stripped back to basics that they're always easy to find your way around. Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are fitted on cars with the touchscreen.
If you don't choose a model with an infotainment system, you can always make use of the Spring's 'YouClip' system. This features three mounts – one above the dash and two on the dash itself – that allow a range of accessories to be clipped into place, including a phone holder, cupholder or bag clip.
The boot is a respectable 308 litres, or 1,004 litres with the rear seats folded – that's more than most rivals in this class, and as much as the bigger Ford Fiesta. Dacia says there's an additional 33 litres of storage dotted about the cabin and you also have the option of an under-bonnet storage area – aka. a 'frunk' – with 35 litres of space, ideal for storing a charging cable.
Dacia Spring EV range, battery and motors
Dacia's designed the Spring to be affordable. As a result, the battery pack has a fairly small 26.8kWh capacity, which translates to a range of around 137 miles. That's not going to worry long-legged EVs like the Tesla Model 3 or Hyundai Ioniq 5, but it should be plenty to cover the majority of daily trips for most drivers. Charging from 20-100% from a 7kW wallbox takes around four hours, while higher-end trims can DC fast charge at 30kW to jump from 20-80% in around 45 minutes.
The Spring is a city-focused car that isn't going to shock anyone with its acceleration. Entry-level models use a 45hp electric motor that takes more than 19 seconds to hit 62mph from rest, or you can upgrade to a 65hp motor that returns a more usable 13.7-second 0-62mph time. Clearly, the Spring isn't a tower of power but, considering it'll mostly spend its time at urban speeds, this amount of performance should be enough to keep pace with traffic.
Put some Spring in your step
While you're waiting for the new Dacia Spring to launch officially, find out how much you could save on a nearly new or used electric car at Motorpoint. For more inspiration, check out our choices for the best cheap electric cars.
