Plug. Ugly
MG’s electric concept should never be realised
on’t be alarmed – MG hasn’t confirmed it’ll build this… ahem… rather dubious-looking electric car. Instead, it’s a concept designed to try to understand the electric market, gauge customer reaction and work out whether an electric MG would actually sell. So here’s TopGear’s first tip – take a large hammer to the bodywork and start again.
Still, get past the dodgy looks and it makes sense as to why MG is looking into it. Apart from anything else, MG’s parent company already has a donor car ready and waiting – the Roewe E50. This equally unfortunate-looking thing is only on sale in China, but at least it means the tech is already tried and tested.
This runs to a single electric motor under the bonnet, driving the front wheels via a CVT ’box. Power is equivalent to 70bhp and with 114lb ft, the MG will touch 62mph in 14.6secs. Charging time is anything from six hours down to 30 minutes, depending on what type of electricity supply you’ve got, while the range runs to about 50 miles.
It’s the latter that MG will really need to boost if it wants to sell the EV over here. The Renault Zoe claims a realistic range of about 90 miles, and even that isn’t
Denough to dispel people’s range anxiety. Fifty miles just isn’t good enough.
Nor is the packaging on the EV. The batteries are all mounted underneath the floor so you sit extremely high in the cabin, and the boot is tiny – barely enough room for the charge cable, let alone any shopping. Like the range, this might have been acceptable when your only other choice of electric vehicle was a milk float or a G-Wiz, but the world has moved on. MG needs to as well.
It’s a pity, because the way the EV drives is perfectly acceptable. There’s not a huge amount of power on tap, so the acceleration is moderate, but it’s smooth, it copes well at 50mph plus, and there’s not too much wind noise. In addition, the chassis set-up is good, and MG’s engineers have made it ride comfortably.
Given MG’s pricing policy with its other cars, the best hope the EV has lies in that direction – price it cheap. And there’s no reason why that shouldn’t be possible. The car already exists, so use that builtin scale to keep the EV’s costs down. Otherwise, there are very few reasons to swap your Zoe for this.