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The Ami One, the car that drives under the concept of skateboards (February 2019) 1:00
(CNN) - French car manufacturer Citroën introduced the Ami, a small electric car designed to be as cheap as possible. The car is not very fast and looks a bit like a washing machine, but it only costs 6,000 euros, or the equivalent of approximately 6,600 dollars.
It would be difficult to get a good used car at that price, but the two-seat Ami is barely a car. In fact, Citroën refers to it as an "object of nonconformist mobility."
It has a maximum speed of only 45 kilometers per hour. It works with an electric motor of 6 kilowatts or 8 horsepower. For that reason, however, Ami can be driven by children as young as 14 in France, or 16 in many other European countries, without a license.
According to the laws of these countries, the Ami qualifies as a voiture sans permis (literally “car without a license”), or quadricycle, a small and slow vehicle category that, for the purpose of regulation, is treated as a four-wheel scooter wheels .
Somehow, the Ami remembers the iconic Citroën 2CV. Like the previous Ford Model T, the 2CV, produced from the late 1940s until the 1980s, was an example of innovation in the search for accessibility. It was a cheap car designed to be driven by difficult or non-existent roads in European fields and to be repaired quickly and easily when necessary.
Citroën 2CV.
The new electric Ami follows a similar minimalist philosophy.
The Ami is built using as few unique pieces as possible. For example, the parts used in the front area are exactly like those used in the back. Also, the right door is exactly like the left door. That means the driver's door hinge is in the front while the passenger's door hinge is in the back.
There is only a small dashboard. An application on the driver's smartphone, placed on a high stand in the center of the dashboard, acts as the central display of other cars that shows things like driving range and navigation. There is also a cup holder behind the wheel.
Since it is a light car with a small battery intended primarily for use in cities, the Ami has a range of only 70 kilometers per charge. However, on the positive side, it can be fully charged in just three hours with a household outlet.
The car will be available for sale at Citroën dealers or buyers can request it directly from their smartphones. Citroën has made arrangements with the French chains of electronics and appliance stores Fnac and Darty to show Ami in some of its stores.
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In addition to buying the car, buyers will also have the option to rent it for 20 euros, the equivalent of $ 22 per month. It will also be available through Free2Move, a car-sharing company operated by Citroën's parent company, PSA, at a cost of 0.26 euros per minute with a monthly subscription of 9.90 euros, roughly the equivalent of $ 11.
Last year, Citroën celebrated its centenary at the Geneva Motor Show with the presentation of the Ami One concept car, which was the forerunner of this new version.
Citroën executives explained at the time that the brand's strategy to address the electric vehicle market was not to start with expensive cars and lower prices, as Tesla did, but to do the opposite: start with cheap electric cars and move to from there.
Together with other PSA brands, Citroën plans to make future car models available in electric, plug-in hybrid and pure internal combustion versions.
Citroën will begin accepting orders for Ami on March 30 in France and, a few months later, in Spain, Italy, Portugal, Belgium and Germany.
Electric car
