24 Hours Living With The Cheapest Electric Car
This is the cheapest electric car currently on sale in the UK. And I got it for 24 hours to find out if it’s the ultimate city car. So, let’s get into it. I’ll be going to the shops, taking it to the gym, and doing my normal everyday routine. And then I’ll show you the 10 ways that DACA have been clever and cut costs to make this car so affordable. Some of them you probably didn’t even realize you need. So, they removed them all together. So, let’s find out if it actually has everything that you need in a car at such an affordable price in such an expensive world we live in. Right. I’ve got my shopping bags and I’ve got my coat because it’s freezing today. And let’s go cuz it’s 400 p.m. I got 24 hours left with this car. And let’s go and do the first thing that people mostly do during the week, which is shopping. And let’s see if it’s good to drive and how it feels on the road. So, let’s go. Oh, yeah. First of all, the key is actually a physical key, which is interesting. and you have to put it in a physical um slot and you physically have to turn it which is weird for electric car because now when I turn it on nothing happens. I got to put my foot on the brake and it’s ready. There’s no engine. It’s really really strange. Let’s see what it’s like to drive and I’ll let you know some facts about the car already. The steering feels very light nipping around these suburbs. Wee. Okay. It’s really quite fun to drive. It reminds me of being on a video game and driving through like a a simulator type thing. Come on. Where are we going? Right, let’s go. See, the turning circle’s great. Look how quick that is. Amazing. So, how much does it actually cost? Well, in the UK, you can get this car from $1495. For that, you don’t get too much, but you do get a very, very capable electric car, which means that your running costs are going to be so low. Make sure you stick around for later because I’ll tell you all the reasons as to why it’s so cheap and what they’ve done to cut costs here on this Daca spring. And they’re very, very clever. The steering wheel feels very big actually. It feels like I’m kind of driving a bus even though the car is tiny. So, if they could make that proportionally a bit smaller, it’d be really ideal for me. Make it more fun to drive. Then the official range is somewhere around 140 150 mi according to WLTP, but realistically, well, when I first got the car at uh full charge, it was 130 mi. It’s it said, as you can see, it’s super super small, so it’s super easy to park and fits perfectly in a space, enough room to get out. And now it’s time to show you what the boot space is like. So, let me go in and get my weekly shop. [Music] [Music] a few moments later. Let’s see how we get on with this in this probably t, but I reckon it’s going to be fine. Look at that. The entire 50 60 shop actually for the week in the boot and success. Now, the problem with my situation in this car is my head room. As you can see, I’m very close to hitting the roof here and my view out front here is quite limited. So, already my seat is reclined back a bit, but at the, you know, ultimately I’m not going to be able to see out properly in this car. It’s going to provide its challenges, let’s say, but I’m used to it because other cars are the same. You know, I have to duck a little bit to see the traffic lights and, you know, being 6’5, it’s what I’ve got to live with. But this car makes it a little bit more difficult. Saying that though, it’s got excellent visibility all the way around. Really impressed with the kind of thin pillars and the glass and uh it’s funny cuz I’m almost sat in the back seat cuz this pillar is in front of me if that makes sense. And uh that’s how far back I am. But yeah, uh let’s drive it home now. I’ve got all my shopping for the week. Cut to me in the morning where I’ll show you my next trip. If you’re enjoying this video so far, please make sure to hit the subscribe button as it really, really helps out my channel. I’m doing this full-time now. So, I love cars and I love this electric vehicle space that we’re entering. So, well, we’re firmly in it now, I’d say. So, hit subscribe and I’ll see you on the next point. First of all, I got these to drop off. Uh, both return items. So, I’m going to go to the post office and drop these off. And I’m going to take you with me. see how we get on with this Dacia spring, which is the cheapest electric car in the UK. Let’s go. So, the Dac Spring has got a 26.8 kWh battery pack in all different trim levels that it’s got, which means that realistically you can get 120 or 130 mi range if you push it. And it’s not really that bad if you think about the efficiency figures. I’ll put them up on the screen now at what that converts to in terms of the miles per kilowatt hour. There are two trim levels as well. And this one is a more expensive one and it costs $1695. I want to thank Fish Brothers Dacia for lending me this car for a few days. Now, this is not a paid partnership or anything like that, but they did lend me the car to do this video for. At the moment, I’m going to go to a yodel drop off store. So, I’m going to drop off this parcel because you can’t take it to a post office. It can only be taken to a yodel store. And then I’m going to go to a post office. And then then, as you can see, I’m going to the gym because I’m wearing my gym stuff. So, let me take you on this journey around town to see what it’s really like. It’s really, really cold. So, I’ve got the heater on full blast, basically. And one thing I did notice about this car is that it does take a little while for the heater to come in. I guess it’s because it maybe uses a battery kind of the heat for the battery to warm the cabin a little bit for improved efficiency. Or also, it might just be um a really efficient heater that takes a while to to get going. But once it does, uh it does actually get pretty warm in here, which is good. Okay, so I just pulled up at the store and I’ll drop this off now. So I just dropped off the other parcel that I had. So I had two parcels and the post office one was working and this one wasn’t. It’s good time to test the bottle. Oh, it does fit. That’s cool. So I take this water bottle to the gym every time I go and thinking that it didn’t have any uh cup holders, but it does in the door. It doesn’t have any in the middle. As you can see, massive cubby hole here, which is cool. And then I’ve got my extra batteries and my little trolley coin there. And um it’s funny, this slot actually can fit. If I bring it out now, it can fit my phone, which is really, really handy. Just locks in there. Doesn’t lock, but yeah. So, the issue is you have to lift this up. Now, it’s fine. You can leave it down if you haven’t got any passengers cuz you can just put your arm over and go underneath here. But it’s really quite an inconvenient thing. So anyway, let’s go to the gym. I’ll keep you updated on how we get on on the way. Put in reverse. This car has got reversing cameras, which is handy, but for some reason Oh, there you go. It didn’t It didn’t turn on for a minute. I love it. It’s like driving a go-kart. [Music] Okay, it’s me at the gym now. So, I’m going to do my workout and it’s leg day today. So, I’ll let you know how I get on and then we can catch up when I get back. Okay, right, we’re back from doing the gym session. Here’s my workout for today. I’ll add it on the screen now. And uh let’s get home, get changed, get ready for the day, get some lunch, and then I’ll show you what I’m looking forward to the most, which is my uh one time a year thing that I treat myself to. I I’ll reveal later. Let’s get home first. Okay, it has turned into an amazingly sunny day and I’m all ready. I’ve had lunch and I’m going to go and get my annual treat, which I get from um a well-known coffee chain every year. So, let’s go there and I’ll show you what it is in my little Dutch spring. So, there are two different trim levels with this. You got the expression and the extreme. Now, the one I’m driving is the extreme version, which is $16995. But for that, you do basically get two grand worth of upgrades. for example, you get a center screen, you get the uh DC charging capabilities, and you get the kind of road safety features and comforts that you’re used to really in a much more expensive car for that price. So, I would recommend going for that if you’re thinking about buying one because uh the basic one is good and it has got everything that you need really, but it’s much more of a comfort and convenience feature nowadays to have all of this stuff like a screen and Apple CarPlay, stuff like that. It’s got a few exterior upgrades as well, like the um bronze colored mirrors. After I’ve got this treat, I’m going to show you the real capabilities of this car really, and show you what you can’t do in petrol or diesel cars really. And this is going to be really, really exciting. So, stick around for that. [Music] Okay, I’m here. It’s quite loud in here, but I can show you now what I’m talking about, what my treat is for the year. It is, of course, a pumpkin spice latte. Now, after a short work session and this really overpriced coffee, let me get back to showing you what this car is capable of. But first, I need to start packing a couple of things. This isn’t the only caffeine I’ll be having today. There’s one more feature I want to show you which is really, really incredible. So, let’s go somewhere now and I can show you. Now, I’m going to do something very special that you can’t do in a normal petrol or diesel car because I found this in the boot. I’m gonna do something a little bit different. [Music] [Music] And just like that, you’ve got your very own power source. Cheers. [Music] Lovely. So, whilst I enjoy this cup of tea, which was made possible by this electric car, let me tell you what I’ve liked about this car so far. Well, I’ve been driving it for a few days and I still have enough range. I got 44% battery left and it’s an ideal car for anyone that doesn’t have a home charger because it’s such a small battery pack. It’s only three kilowatts bigger than my 10-year-old Nissan Leaf. It’s really, really good in tight parking spots and around town. The steering and turning circle is incredibly small. It doesn’t feel heavy even though it might be heavier than a typical hatchback. It uh it feels really light and the steering is really light as well. I actually fitted an office chair as well in the boot. So, I’ll cut to that clip. Now, since I’ve had the car, I’ve been going to Halford and back, going around town, getting shopping as you saw, and generally driving in the town. And it’s really an ideal car. Hello. Don’t mind me. Which brings me on to the reasons why Daca made it so cheap. So, let me go through them now. Here are 10 things that Daca have done to make this the cheapest electric car in the UK. And some of them you didn’t even think that you needed in a car. Number one is removable headrests. There’s just a single seat in here without any adjustments. Number two is that there are no window switches in the doors. Instead, they are here in the middle as you can see. Number three, there’s no electronic boot lids, so you just have to shut it the oldfashioned way. Number four, that there’s no blind spot monitoring system. It’s a very basic mirror. Number five is that there’s no electronic parking brake. You have to do it the oldfashioned way again. Also, it has just a basic key with three buttons and an oldfashioned way where you have to actually insert it into the barrel and turn it, but nothing happens cuz it’s electric. Also, it doesn’t have a massive battery pack either. It’s under 27 kW hours as well. Plus, it only has two speakers inside. And finally, on the basic trim, it doesn’t have DC charging. Doesn’t have these two. Now, the downsides with this car is that the suspension does feel a bit clunky when you go over bumps. Now, that’s understandable. It probably has a very basic setup, which is what you’d expect at this price. So, it’s not going to compete with the likes of Mercedes and BMW, but it costs just one/ird of the price of theirs. So, it’s a really good deal. The other issue is the armrest. Like I mentioned before, the fact that you got to move it to do the handbrake and stuff like that. Either they remove the armrest all together, then you won’t have the comfort, or you just have the electronic parking brake, which will make the car cost more. So, it makes sense why they’ve cut the costs on this. Also, correct me if I’m doing something wrong, but I remove the key and the car stays on. It’s very strange, but ultimately it is the cheapest UK electric car that you can buy and it’s a real bargain. I actually saw one for $9.99 or something like that on a secondhand market or may maybe even be brand new. So, do I think this is worth buying? Well, I think it’s a really, really solid city car. It’s great for short trips around town. Easy to park, easy to maneuver, going to be cheap to run because it’s electric. Of course, you’ve got the perk of having the front charging flap allowed you to charge and plug in devices that you wouldn’t normally be able to do in a petrol or diesel car. So, it’s like a little power pack on wheels. It’s a very big power pack on wheels. It is a bit small inside for me. I’m 6’5, but if you’re smaller than me and let’s say under 6 foot, it’s really, really ideal. It’s got great visibility all around and I really recommend it. So, be sure to check out Fish Brothers. Thanks very much for lending me the car. Be sure to check this video out next. Thanks so much for watching and see you on the next one.
Is the cheapest EV in the UK is actually all the car you need?
I lived with it for 24 hours to find out. Then, we go into the clever ways Dacia has made this little gem start from under £15,000!
Let me know what you think about the Dacia Spring in the comments, and don’t forget to SUBSCRIBE for more EV content!
🙏 Thanks to Fish Bros Dacia: https://www.fish-bros.co.uk/dacia/
🍿 Exactly How To Pay Less To Charge Your Electric Car: https://youtu.be/NAU32Tk2vjE
🆓 £50 For Switching to EON Energy: https://mention-me.com/m/ol/hk1sd-alexander-bull
🚙 My EV Driver Essentials: https://www.amazon.co.uk/shop/drivenbyalex/list/TJ0YCA738C74?ref_=cm_sw_r_cp_ud_aipsflist_PPNDTM83QX2QMBSV3XVM_1
📸 My Camera Gear: https://www.amazon.co.uk/shop/drivenbyalex/list/3MW6YJZRO1MN6?ref_=cm_sw_r_cp_ud_aipsflist_PPNDTM83QX2QMBSV3XVM_2
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👋 Who Am I
I’m Alex, a British guy sharing what it’s really like living with a budget electric car.
Former automotive engineer turned traveller + digital nomad.
Please hit subscribe if you want more real-world EV content.
📖 Chapters
00:00 Intro
00:26 I take it shopping
04:34 to the gym
08:00 treat time
09:58 clever use of EVs
11:54 why it’s so affordable
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