Everything We Know About The Tiniest New EV Coming To America
I was not aware that Stellantis had a car rental/sharing service, but with plans for an expansion to L.A. and five other states before year's end, some areas of you are about to get very familiar with Free2Move. While standard rental spec Stellantis cars like the Jeep Compass and Chrysler Voyager will be offered, the Citroën Ami should make an interesting addition to its Washington, D.C. fleet.
The new all-electric Ami has been available in Europe for almost a year now. The nameplate stretches back to 1961, and the very windswept-looking compact car went on to sell over a million units before going out of production in 1978, as the excellent Citroënet details.
This new Ami is perfect for small European streets. And I do mean just city streets. It's not actually a city car in the same vein as a Smart or the old Scion iQ. The EV Ami is classified as a two-door quadricycle. It's a class of not-quite-car that anyone over the age of 14 can drive in France. Great as that might be for French teens, that the Ami is what Citroën calls an "urban mobility object" might pose a problem on the huge multilane highways and streets we have in the States.
We reached out to Free2Move for clarification on how the Ami will be operating in DC and were told that more information is to come on Monday. We will update this post when it comes.
It's tiny. It seats just two. It's nearly a foot shorter than a Smart ForTwo and, at just 1,069 pounds, is over a thousand pounds lighter. The turning radius however is just about the same, at least, needing a bit over 23 feet to a ForTwo's 22. The thing is that the Ami is not only golf cart small, but it's golf cart slow, too.
Top speed is limited to just 28 mph and its small 5.5 kWh battery gives its electric motors just eight horsepower. That's enough to ensure this thing will be stuck in city duty with its 43.5 miles of range. Charging can be done via a standard 220-volt wall charger or through public charging. Opting for the former will take three hours for a full charge.No word on pricing or what cities the Ami will be available in; this better be the cheapest rental car in the history of rental cars. Its small size, go-kart like power, and classification as a quadricycle might prove too problematic for some drivers.