Dacia Spring

FIRST DRIVE Dacia's EV will arrive in the UK in revised form next year. We tried the current Spring to get a taste of the city car

- John Mcllroy

THE next 18 months are going to see a huge shake-up in what we all consider an affordable electric car'. And this is our first chance to try one of the vehicles that could lead the revolution: the Dacia Spring.

UK sales of the brand's first EV are still a year away, and the car we'll get will sport revised exterior looks and much-improved interior perceived quality compared with the French-spec left-hooker you see here.

But the basic technical stuff will be unchanged; there's a single battery, with a capacity of 26.8kWh (usable), and a choice of two models: the Spring 45 and the Spring 65, named after their metric power outputs.

The Spring 45 has 44bhp (45PS) and 125Nm of torque, modest numbers that deliver a top speed of 78mph and a 0-62mph time of, wait for it, 19.1 seconds. The Spring 65 gains some more grunt, at 64bhp (65PS), and its acceleration figure is a more respectable 13.7 seconds.

Both versions have a range of 190 miles if you're driving around town, and 143 miles (Spring 45) or 137 miles (the 65 we're testing) on the combined cycle. Hooked up to a 7kW home wallbox, the battery can be refilled from empty in just under five hours.