Business review: Mega City electric car

The Mega City is one of a growing band of small vehicles designed to provide urban transport, powered entirely by electricity and intended for short, low-speed journeys in city centres.

The best known vehicle in this class is probably the Indian-built Reva G-Wiz, which has become a relatively common sight within London’s congestion charging zone. The Mega City, sold in the UK by the Nice Car Company, claims several advantages over its better-established rival: it is larger, wider and more car-like in appearance and operation. Meanwhile GoinGreen, the UK importer of the G-Wiz, asserts that its vehicle offers superior speed and endurance, and is a lot cheaper to buy.

Of the two the Mega City is the better bet if you’re going to have an accident. Neither the G-Wiz nor the Mega City are legally required to pass the crash tests to which ordinary new cars are subjected, as both fall into an exempt “quadricyle” category of light vehicle. Aixam-Mega, the French maker of the Mega City’s body, has nonetheless voluntarily ensured that it meets minimum car impact safety standards, while Reva has not. In May the UK Vehicle Certification Agency carried out a 35mph crash test of the G-Wiz that highlighted severe risks for occupants, and as a result the Department for Transport is currently reviewing the safety requirements for this class of car.

The Mega City is built using a welded aluminium frame clad in plastic and glass. The maker says this body is 100 percent recyclable. As an all-electric car it produces zero emissions at the point of use, but must of course be charged from a 240V mains supply. Charging costs of about 2p per mile are claimed - roughly 50 times cheaper than the fuel costs of similarly sized petrol cars. For zero emissions overall, customers can buy their power from a renewable supplier such as Ecotricity. Nice also offsets the CO2 produced during manufacturing via the Trees for Cities project.
Charging can be a problem for city dwellers, given that on-street charging points are currently few and far between, and many potential owners will lack a dedicated parking space within a cable’s reach of their house or flat. Ideally, a waterproof exterior power socket should be installed close to where the Mega City will be parked overnight.

The car offers two seats and a large hatchback load bay as standard, with a four-seat option available at extra cost. Twelve lead-acid batteries installed beneath the front seats power a 4kW (5.4hp) motor housed under the snub-nosed bonnet, driving the front wheels. According to the manufacturer the car will travel about 50 miles in city driving on a single charge, at speeds of up to 40mph. A full recharge takes eight hours, but the batteries respond well to frequent recharging from a partial discharge, which naturally takes less time.

In use the Mega City is very similar to a conventional small hatchback with an automatic transmission - a three-position drive, neutral and reverse lever is sited between the front seats. A rotary knob to the right of the steering wheel can select a slow-speed, low-power mode, which helps to preserve battery life when creeping along in traffic jams. A digital gauge on the dashboard shows remaining charge, but makes no predictions about remaining range.

In our tests we found the Mega City kept up reasonably well with urban traffic. Acceleration is initially brisk, but quickly fades beyond about 15mph. Reaching 30mph takes around 15 seconds, and exceeding 35mph requires either a downhill stretch or a long time spent with foot flat to the floor. Happily, driving with the headlights on and a passenger on board seemed to make little difference to the rate of progress.

The Mega City’s lack of oomph is less of a handicap than it might seem, provided 40mph zones are avoided. During three days of tests in central London no other road user attempted to overtake, tailgated or hooted us. On one occasion a van driver following closely behind turned out simply to be curious - he drew level at a junction and asked what the Mega City was like to drive.

So - what is it like to drive?