Video: New Dacia Hipster revealed: could this be the future of the electric car?

On sale tbc Price from £12,000 (est)

If you’re about to buy a lottery ticket, you might want to ask Dacia which numbers to choose, because the new Dacia Hipster concept suggests the firm has a crystal ball.

EU President Ursula von der Leyen had barely finished announcing her intention to introduce a new, less regulated category of small electric car to help bring down prices, when Dacia pulled the covers off the Hipster. This three-metre long electric hatchback would be even cheaper than today’s Dacia Spring (which costs from £14,995). But, crucially, it could only be put into production if it wasn’t subject to all of the current legislation – particularly around active safety.

Given how long it takes to develop a car (even when it’s just a concept), work on the Hipster clearly began long before von der Leyen’s statement, although several European manufacturers have been calling on the EU to help in this way, including Dacia’s parent company Renault.

But how is the Hipster different from tiny electric vehicles (EVs), such as the Citroën Ami, which are already subject to less stringent rules than conventional cars? Well, those ‘light quadricycles’ can have no more than two seats, which greatly limits their appeal. Plus, the Ami’s official range is just 46 miles.

By contrast, the Hipster has been designed to accommodate four adults. And even though no performance figures have been revealed, we’d expect it to be able to travel at least 70 miles between charges, given Dacia’s claim that someone with an average commute would need to charge their car only twice a week.

Explaining the thinking behind the Hipster, Dacia’s Vice President for Marketing, Sales, and Operations, Frank Marotte, told What Car?: “At Dacia, we’ve long been advocates of [legislators] being more reasonable around driver aids, because in many cases the way customers are using their cars means they don’t need the sort of super-sophisticated active safety technology that pushes up costs.

“Then there’s the environmental issue to consider,” Marotte continued. “If demand for new cars remains low, because people can’t afford them, people are going to be driving around in older and older vehicles, and that’s going to be disastrous in terms of CO2 emissions.”

Even by EV standards, though, the Hipster could potentially be very clean, with Dacia claiming it would have at least half the whole-life carbon footprint of any model on sale today.

That’s partly because its small size means less raw materials and less energy are used during the manufacturing process. But that size also reduces weight and therefore energy consumption while driving, as do lots of design choices, including fabric exterior door releases, simple sliding side windows and seats made from mesh fabric that’s stretched over an exposed framework.

This latter element not only makes the seats lighter, but also slimmer, freeing up knee room for those in the back of the car. We found adults do indeed fit just fine there, although access could be better because the Hipster doesn’t have rear doors.

That’s rare these days, while the fact that there’s no gap between the driver’s seat and front passenger’s seat is even more unusual, and could lead to clashing elbows. But the actual driving position is reassuringly conventional, with you sitting at the same height as you do in a Spring, instead of feeling like larger cars are towering over you.

The Hipster’s boxy shape and large glass area means visibility is excellent, too. Even the front section of the roof is glass, to make it easier to see high-mounted traffic lights.

All of the fixed controls are mounted on the steering wheel, with the dashboard little more than a storage trough. Meanwhile infotainment functions are taken care of via your phone, which clips into a dock that protrudes from the steering column.

This minimalist feel is further emphasised by the Hipster’s two airbags (one for the driver and one for the front passenger) being visible behind clear plastic. But there are 11 anchor points dotted around the interior, which allow you to clip in various accessories, such as cupholders, armrests and ceiling lights.

The design of the tailgate also boosts practicality, with it split like a Range Rover’s to make it easier to slide heavy items into the back of the car. That said, you’re only likely to benefit from this when the rear seats are folded flat, because when they’re up you get just 70 litres of luggage space – enough for the charging cable, but not much else.

Whether or not the Hipster concept is a vision of the future, then, very much depends on how you use your car.

Rivals

Citroën Ami

Available for less than £8k, but its painfully slow, has a very short range and seats only two people.

Full Citroën Ami review >>

Used Peugeot e-208

A more conventional small EV that’s smartly finished, decent to drive and available from around £10k used.

Full used Peugeot e-208 buying guide >>

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