All-New Dacia Spring – The Cheapest New Electric Car In The UK

For those who’ve been a bit wary or hesitant to make the jump into electric cars, then maybe this might be enough to make you reconsider. The new Dacia Spring is officially the cheapest new electric car that you can buy in the UK, starting at just £14,995 on the road. This makes it cheaper than rivalling EVs by thousands of pounds. Yet, the Spring is hardly a compromise, as Dacia balances its affordable price tag, and brings all the features you really need.

A 5-door all-electric super-mini, the Dacia Spring even brings with it a decent 137 miles of EV range (or 186 miles, as per the WLTP urban cycle). While not ground-breaking, for a tiny little electric car, it’s more than enough to manage your regular day-to-day commutes, and even a bit of grand touring on the weekends, too. All of that is courtesy of its small 26.8kWh battery pack, and when charging via a 7kWh wall box, it’ll top up the Spring in just 4 hours.

Cheap And Simple, But Mightily Well-Thought-Out

When the order books open, you can spec the Dacia Spring in one of three variants – the entry-level Expression Electric 45, the Expression Electric 65, and the range-topping Extreme Electric 65. Depending on which model you choose, it’ll match you with either a 45hp or a 65hp motor. While this might not sound impressive, the Dacia Spring is uber-lightweight, making it the only fully electric car in all of Europe to tip the scales at under 1 tonne, which is pretty darn good.

Despite its size, the Spring’s form factor is well-optimised to ensure as much passenger space and luggage capacity as possible. In fact, the Spring offers best-in-class cargo room, handling up to 1,004 litres with the rear seats folded down (with 31 additional litres of room elsewhere in the cabin, as well). Speaking of, the major variations between the three models I mentioned earlier are mostly down to interior trim, like the standard 7-inch infotainment system.

Best-In-Class Storage, And Loads Of Features To Boot

Then, there’s cruise control, central locking, electric front windows, rear parking sensors, and 15-inch wheels, among others, all included as standard. Pretty good for a sub-£15k car. With the higher-end Extreme trim, the extra cash goes toward copper accents inside and out, a 10-inch centre screen, electric mirrors and rear windows, and a bi-directional charger, not to mention wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto (that’s beyond excellent for this price, I’d say).

Additionally, Dacia has beefed up the Spring’s ADAS suite, like an advanced emergency braking system, traffic sign recognition, rear park assist, speed alerts, lane-keep assist, driver attention warning, and more. The Spring is Dacia’s gambit to help improve EV adoption rates throughout Europe, and the way things are looking, it may very well be our best chance yet. Pre-orders are open now, though the first shipment of springs will arrive in the UK this coming October.