Are Frugal Minicars the Future of Urban Mobility?
February 2023

Despite these extremes, most vehicles sold in both markets and in Europe are fitted with battery packs ranging essentially between 40 and 80 kWh resulting in 250 to 500 km EPA range. Large vehicles (e.g., Tesla Model S, Mercedes EQS) get up to 100-110 kWh packs delivering up to 800 km of EPA range. 

Some Efforts to Match Vehicle Size with Actual Needs

The ranges outlined earlier exceed what a regular use requires assuming one can charge at home, at work, or while shopping — this is particularly true in urban settings. Indeed, 46% of all trips undertaken in the USA are under 5 km and 77% below 16 km. Does it make sense to constantly carry a heavy battery pack for the 5% of all trips that exceed 50 km?

There is room for more frugal vehicles that are lighter thanks to a more compact form factor and a much smaller battery pack. Norway, with its 71% BEV penetration in 2022, seems to be pushing its own market in this direction with a new tax scheme. As of January 2023, BEVs will be taxed 12.5 NOK (1.15€) for every kilogram over 500 kg of vehicle weight. For a VW ID.4, for instance, this translates into a tax of 1,700€ for the 52-kWh version vs. 1,900€ for the 77-kWh one. In addition, a 25% VAT is now applied to the portion of a BEV’s price above 500k NOK (45k€).

Whereas Norway is promoting lighter, less expensive BEVs, last summer the USA’s Congress passed the Inflation Reduction Act which tends to go in the opposite direction. Even if the IRA clearly amplifies the industry’s electrification efforts, I find it absurd that it favors larger, heavier vehicles. Indeed, the same incentive of up to $7,500 per vehicle will be offered for SUVs and light trucks up to $80,000 vs. $55,000 for sedans. This will lead to a higher usage of batteries and raw materials in general — and promote vehicles that are known to be more dangerous to other road users.

Whereas the market for license-free vehicles (L6e) is likely driven by Gen Z’s decreasing interest in obtaining a driver’s license, the market for more powerful versions (L7e) should grow thanks to the shift from vehicle ownership to ridership. These vehicles will likely be largely deployed in shared fleets in urban environment. Some of these minicars may even be specifically designed for this purpose such as Circle’s EV (see above) which will be first deployed in a shared fleet in Paris in late 2023.

These vehicles are not cheap EVs. Their low price is made possible thanks to constrained characteristics that are sufficient for personal urban mobility while their design is generally pleasing. Worthy examples of such vehicles are the Microlino (Switzerland, see below), XEV Yoyo (Italy), Silence S04 (Spain), Eli Zero (USA), Triggo (Poland), City Transformer (Israel) or Nimbus One (USA).

Fifteen thousand L6e and L7e vehicles were sold in Europe in 2022 according to IDTechX’s estimate, up from 9k in 2021, boosted by Citroën AMI’s sales. One imagines these vehicles becoming common in Europe’s dense city centers, it is a less the case in the USA, except possibly in places such as New York City, Los Angeles or San Francisco. Time will tell.