Dacia’s Spring EV is finally on the way to Ireland, having been on sale across Europe already for a number of years. The order book opens soon, with first deliveries to customers expected in the summer.
The car comes with a new exterior design and interior, reflecting Dacia’s latest look. The inside features a 7” driver’s screen and 10” multimedia screen.
Range/Battery/Charging
As for the battery, it’s not a large unit, coming in with a 27kWh capacity, giving a claimed range of around 220km. The range is helped by the fitment of regenerative braking for the first time in a Spring.
There’s a 7kW AC charger as standard and an optional 30kW DC charger, so the Spring really isn’t suited to long road trips.
Nevertheless, it’s the only electric car sold in Europe weighing under one tonne, the top trim level coming in at 984kg, so that should help efficiency, which is a claimed 14.6kWh per 100km.
V2L is also standard, with a 220V outlet under the bonnet, capable of supplying 16 Amps. Incidentally, there’s also a frunk under the bonnet with 35 litres of space.
Interior and equipment
The interior features YouClip mounts, a Dacia innovation allowing various accessories to be mounted to the dashboard or centre console. These include a storage pouch, smartphone holder with or without inductive charging, or a 3 in 1 cup holder, bag hook and light.
The luggage compartment is just over 300 litres and there’s more than 30 litres of storage also dotted around the cabin.
Smart satellite navigation system, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto along with driver assistance systems will also be on offer.
Don’t expect the usual neck-snapping electric surge of power though. With a 65bhp motor in the top model, acceleration to 100km/h is a leisurely 14 seconds with lower power models taking 20 seconds for the same challenge.
That said, the Spring is designed as an urban car, so that really shouldn’t matter.
Range and Pricing
Pricing and final specifications will be announced later and once we have them we’ll bring them to you.
Three trims will be available: base Essential, Expression and Extreme. Standard equipment across the range includes 7” instrument cluster, media control system with USB, cruise control, remote central locking, electric front windows and rear parking sensors.
Expression adds air conditioning, 15” wheels and the 65bhp motor. Finally, Extreme models also get the 10” central screen with a navigation/multimedia system, CarPlay and Android Auto, electric mirrors and rear windows, V2L and copper exterior and interior finishes.
