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The Citroen Ami – tiny electric car with no boot, 28mph top speed, 46 mile range

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Re: The Citroen Ami – tiny electric car with no boot, 28mph top speed, 46 mile range

#81

Post by the_mitsuhiko »

MontyCarloHall wrote: post #57
bambax wrote: post #26

> the £7,695 tiny electric car that has no boot, a 28mph top speed and range of just 46 miles I live in Paris and do everything with an e-bike that also has no boot, no passenger seat, a top speed of ~20mph, a range of ~30 miles... but cost me around €1,200 (since I built it myself). It now has over 7,500 miles. In day trafic it's probably much faster than the Ami, and it can also be put on a train. Couldn't be happi…

If it’s raining/snowing, or too hot, or too cold, I’d much rather be in an small enclosed car than exposed to the elements on a bike. The Ami has a primitive heater but no air conditioning, but there’s no reason that these limitations are inherent to a vehicle of this size. I imagine an Ami-sized car with creature comforts of a regular vehicle would sell extremely well in cities. Biking is great when the weather is a…

> If it’s raining/snowing, or too hot, or too cold, I’d much rather be in an small enclosed car than exposed to the elements on a bike.

Yes and no. I have a three wheeler cargo bike I use for most of my commuting or city riding and very rarely do I opt for my car, particularly when the weather is bad. The main reason is that since where I live I basically cannot find parking and when the weather is bad, the roads are full of cars. In that case I'm usually quicker and more relaxed just loading the kids into the cargo bike (they have a roof) and I accept the wetness / cold than to try to use my car instead. It just works out much better for me.

Re: The Citroen Ami – tiny electric car with no boot, 28mph top speed, 46 mile range

#82

Post by mlok »

hanche wrote: post #59

Huh. I owned a Citroen Ami back in the seventies. It was a gas car (two cylinder air cooled engine), much like the 2CV but made to look a bit more like a conventional car. Interesting that they decided to reuse the name.

Note : "ami" means "friend" in French. I knew about the old Ami (but young people this car is aimed at do not know about it) but I think this is a welcomed reuse of that name.

Re: The Citroen Ami – tiny electric car with no boot, 28mph top speed, 46 mile range

#83

Post by dghlsakjg »

MontyCarloHall wrote: post #57
bambax wrote: post #26

> the £7,695 tiny electric car that has no boot, a 28mph top speed and range of just 46 miles I live in Paris and do everything with an e-bike that also has no boot, no passenger seat, a top speed of ~20mph, a range of ~30 miles... but cost me around €1,200 (since I built it myself). It now has over 7,500 miles. In day trafic it's probably much faster than the Ami, and it can also be put on a train. Couldn't be happi…

If it’s raining/snowing, or too hot, or too cold, I’d much rather be in an small enclosed car than exposed to the elements on a bike. The Ami has a primitive heater but no air conditioning, but there’s no reason that these limitations are inherent to a vehicle of this size. I imagine an Ami-sized car with creature comforts of a regular vehicle would sell extremely well in cities. Biking is great when the weather is a…

Quite honestly, an ebike solves a lot of this.

I thought I would never use it in the winter, but a cheap rain suit is perfect to keep me warm and dry, and takes about 20 seconds to put on or take off. I don’t have to worry about sweat since if I get too hot I can just use the throttle or dial up the electric assist.

I thought I would never use the thing in winter, but I actually find it absurdly practical.

Re: The Citroen Ami – tiny electric car with no boot, 28mph top speed, 46 mile range

#84

Post by kube-system »

Calling these "cars" is clickbait to make these sound novel. But, NEVs like this (and even better than this) have been around for decades.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neighborhood_Electric_Vehicle

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quadricycle_(EU_vehicle_classi...

Part of the reason they are so cheap is that they are legally not cars, and therefore are exempt from many regulations that make cars expensive.

Re: The Citroen Ami – tiny electric car with no boot, 28mph top speed, 46 mile range

#85

Post by ZeroGravitas »

BarryMilo wrote: post #28
zac23or wrote: post #5

Its ugly! A key to Tesla's success is that its cars look like cars, not abominations. Many electric car makers seem to hate cars.

Did we forget the Cybertruck already?

Citroen has a Cybertruck version of this too, called the Oli:

https://www.electrifying.com/blog/article/the-ami-gets-a-big...

Re: The Citroen Ami – tiny electric car with no boot, 28mph top speed, 46 mile range

#86

Post by svnpenn »

> 28mph top speed

please no one buy this. I purchased a vehicle similar to this years ago, and while fun, the top speed was ALWAYS an issue. Even on surface streets, its too slow, so you end up essentially redlining for the entire trip, and even then its too slow. Unless this is purely as second "toy vehicle" for you, don't buy this. Get something that can go at least 40.

Re: The Citroen Ami – tiny electric car with no boot, 28mph top speed, 46 mile range

#87

Post by peoplefromibiza »

bambax wrote: post #26

> the £7,695 tiny electric car that has no boot, a 28mph top speed and range of just 46 miles I live in Paris and do everything with an e-bike that also has no boot, no passenger seat, a top speed of ~20mph, a range of ~30 miles... but cost me around €1,200 (since I built it myself). It now has over 7,500 miles. In day trafic it's probably much faster than the Ami, and it can also be put on a train. Couldn't be happi…

Good for you.

That does not invalidate the point of a mean of transport alternative to big empty cars riding one person each and to bikes, that ride one person each and have no trunk.

Bikes are also more dangerous than small slow 4 wheeled vehicles. Because, you know, bikes don't stand on their own, their braking abilities are very limited due to very thin tyres, they have no stop and turn signals, no rearview mirrors, etc etc

Cars are expensive because of safety devices and regulations, not because a box of metal with an engine could not be built for a couple of thousands euros.

ALSO the subway is much faster than a bike, cost much less and does not interfere with pedestrian walking spaces, I can pay 10 years of public transport with 1,200 euros.

Of course bikers of HN will not like it, but cars are the killer app for private transportation, the ICE engine is an accident, it's their form factor that wins.

Decades of design have been spent on them. while bikes are still the same old two wheelers now with an electric engine, so more like stripped down mopeds, not so great if you ask the majority of people who simply need to move and don't care about the flex.

Please, don't be un parisien.

p.s. I'm a biker and a pedestrian, I drive less than 100km a month, only when I have to and don't own a car since 10 years ago. But Ican't stand the attitude of many bikers that think that if they do it, everybody should or could do it. It's simply wrong.

Re: The Citroen Ami – tiny electric car with no boot, 28mph top speed, 46 mile range

#88

Post by jeffbee »

rdl wrote: post #76

The NEV category (basically golf cart) make sense in specific neighborhoods -- not in dense cities (where they're still too big), not in really long distance rural settings (although a Gator/UTV or something on your own property can be awesome), but in the right kind of suburban/resort/etc. community, amazing. I am not a big fan of bicycle/moped/motorcycle because I usually want more stuff with me if I'm not just goi…

> not in dense cities

The Free2Move car sharing uses the car in the article in central Paris, which I understand is a fairly dense city.

Re: The Citroen Ami – tiny electric car with no boot, 28mph top speed, 46 mile range

#89

Post by Bayart »

zac23or wrote: post #5

Its ugly! A key to Tesla's success is that its cars look like cars, not abominations. Many electric car makers seem to hate cars.

Teslas look bland, if not horrid, for how much they cost, at least compared to the sedans we're used to in Europe.

Re: The Citroen Ami – tiny electric car with no boot, 28mph top speed, 46 mile range

#90

Post by jack_pp »

the_mitsuhiko wrote: post #81
MontyCarloHall wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If it’s raining/snowing, or too hot, or too cold, I’d much rather be in an small enclosed car than exposed to the elements on a bike. The Ami has a primitive heater but no air conditioning, but there’s no reason that these limitations are inherent to a vehicle of this size. I imagine an Ami-sized car with creature comforts of a regular vehicle would sell extremely well in cities. Biking is great when the weather is a…

> If it’s raining/snowing, or too hot, or too cold, I’d much rather be in an small enclosed car than exposed to the elements on a bike. Yes and no. I have a three wheeler cargo bike I use for most of my commuting or city riding and very rarely do I opt for my car, particularly when the weather is bad. The main reason is that since where I live I basically cannot find parking and when the weather is bad, the roads are…

I don't even have a driving licence, mostly go by subway / bus or scooter and right now if I go over 20kph on a scooter my face freezes, do you use a bike helmet (full face shield) when it's cold outside or are you just used to it?
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