Goodbye city cars, it’s time for small electric cars: including the ones that shrink. This is what they are

Rome – goodbye Citycar. The little ones, or at least the ones we all used to see and ride, are disappearing. Or rather, they grow in size, given that cars under 4 meters in length can already be counted on the fingers of one hand. Even Smart from next year will leave the big sisters disguised as SUVs and made in China. So what is left for those who want to get around the city? Today, the place of the city car is occupied by other machines, or rather “machines”, decided to be small, really small. They are the pure electric heirs of the unforgettable Isetta, the ancestor of small cars, built in the 1950s by ISO and then, under license, by BMW, the first production car to consume 3 liters of gasoline per hundred kilometers and sold at more than 160. thousand specimens.

New generations of models focus on design, obviously on maneuverability and in some cases safety. However, they are the most suitable for traffic and above all “parkable”, the first requirement for those traveling in big cities. Features that suggest a bright future for them, in an increasingly sustainable and “human” mobility.

The latest advent is called Small lines, an electric quadricycle that can be driven with a B1 license, therefore already at the age of sixteen. It belongs to Micro Mobility System, a Swiss company founded by Wim Ouboter who chose to make the model in La Loggia, a town 15 kilometers from Turin. Distribution, however, was entrusted to the Koelliker group. “It is the first product in its category to have a monocoque frame in steel and aluminum, like normal cars. When you ride, you can notice the difference compared to quadricycles in the same category that instead have a tubular frame and synthetic resin panels.”, says Michelangelo Liguori, general manager of Micro. Regarding the price list, it starts from 21,090 euros which, due to incentives and cancellations, becomes 17,090 euros.

The best of the moment, which everyone would like and which instead has long waiting lists, is Citroen Ami (the e-Rocks sold under the Opel brand). An exciting name for one of the most iconic French house models of the seventies but which actually has very little to do with the past. Small (only 2.40 meters long) and colorful, a nice little car that can already be driven at the age of 14 and has about 75 kilometers of electric range, it has the same front and rear parts while the exterior is in plastic material . covers the structure in steel tubes. It’s a box but it’s turning everyone’s heads, especially the latest limited edition Buggy, which can be ordered exclusively online from June 20.

There are many competing with it and there will be more in the coming years. There is, of course Renault Twizy, which arrived earlier than Ami (in 2011), more spartan and without a goalkeeper, with a second position (let’s say “fortunately”) behind the driver, almost like a motorcycle. Aesthetically it doesn’t touch the heart because it looks more like a lunar lander than a small city car. But it is especially suitable for the bumpy streets of a city like Rome, to give an obvious example.

Another of the electric microcars that appears more frequently is XEV YoYo, which hit the market some time ago and has just been shown with a new look at the last Paris Motor Show. It may sound like a Chinese name, but YoYo is very Italian, created by the Turin Polytechnic University with 3D printed graphics, and sold in 15 countries in the EMEA region (Europe, Middle East and Africa) as well as in Asia and South. United States. It is one of the queens of sharing the city car, one of the most interesting calls for this type of car. In terms of car sharing and rental, Estrima Birò is also very active, produced by a company from Pordenone, which already sells more than 13,000 units.

Liger Myli And Aixam-e they are the electric successors to the more common machines of the early 2000s. Very refined but also expensive like their petrol “ancestors”. Just like Eli Zero Pluszero emission car produced in California and presented in the latest edition of Eicma: full LED headlights, keyless ignition, central touch screen and rear camera, excellent accessories.

But the smartest is the electric minicar that changes dimensions according to needs. It is called City Transformer CT-2 and was created by the Israeli company City. Priced at 16,000 euros, it has already received more than 2,000 orders through the dedicated website citytransformer.com and will start production in 2025. At the push of a button on the dashboard, a multi-folding frame whose base can vary. its width from 1.4 meters in Performance mode to 1.0 meters in City mode, by increasing the wheels by 20 centimeters on each side. Guaranteed success. And saying goodbye to “beloved old city cars” will probably be sweeter.