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Citroen's My Ami Cargo redefines what a tiny van can be. Jonathan Crouch takes a look.
Ten Second Review
Citroen's My Ami Cargo offers a rather different solution to the problem of efficiently delivering small, light packages within an urban environment. It's not the kind of van your company will previously have considered. But if you're inner city-based, it might be exactly the one you really need.
Background
So, you've an urban-based business with the need for the metropolitan transport of light, small items. You don't need to venture beyond the city limits, you don't want to spend more than £10,000 and you'd like full electric mobility. Does a solution to your requirements exist? Surprisingly, it does; and Citroen calls it the My Ami Cargo.
This is the LCV version of the brand's Ami quadricycle, the Cargo variant we look at here added to the range because Citroen noticed that a large proportion of sales of Renault's old Twizy quadricycle were of the package-toting commercial vehicle version. This Citroen can carry a little more than you could in one of those - but not much more. It's just as unique too.
Driving Experience
It's electric of course. There wouldn't be much point if it wasn't. But it's got a far smaller battery (5.5kWh) than you'll find in any EV van. Still, because the electric motor it's mated to develops only 8bhp, hence the feeble 28mph top speed, you won't drain the cells very quickly and a (very achievable) range of 46 urban miles is possible. Because it's a quadricycle, you don't need a full driving licence to use an Ami Cargo - it can be driven on a moped licence from the age of 16.
As you'd expect from the diminutive size, the turning circle is outstanding - just 7.2m. To give you a point of comparison, that of a base Fiesta is over 10m. A London taxi is rated at 7.6m. The elevated driving position and superb all-round visibility also help in the city and though there's no power steering to ease you into spaces, the vehicle is so light (that base Fiesta weighs a whopping 600kgs more) that it isn't really an issue. Still, you might well feel intimidated by trucks and buses, particularly as quadricycles like this don't get rigorously crash tested and don't have to have airbags and camera safety aids.
Design and Build
Well it's small. Very small. Just 2.41m long and 1.39m wide in fact. And super-light too - just 425kg without batteries. The push-me-pull-you looks that see the front similar to the back are partly intentional. And partly about reducing production costs at the Moroccan factory - which is a bit of a theme here. So, for instance, the doors are identical left and right - which means the driver's side one is rear-hinged, while the passenger side one isn't. To get in, you push a large outside button and notice as you pull the door back that half of its side window is hinged to flap upwards, a reference to the classic Citroen 2CV.
Inside, where you can only have the steering wheel on the left, it's light and airy thanks to a standard panoramic glass roof panel. And to the fact that the glass area occupies almost half of the interior surfacing, along with the way the windscreen is placed a way away from you. The steering wheel doesn't adjust and sprouting from it is a single column stalk that works the indicators and the single wiper that creaks across the plastic screen. With this Cargo version, there's only one seat.
Various colour-coordinated cabin fittings brighten things up - and the items in question (removable holders and cubbies in the dashboard) are of the clip-on kind, so you can easily switch to a different shade, or maybe change your cabin colour with the seasons. The doors open with fabric pull strings and there's a noisy single speed fan with a heat option.
Market and Model
The My Ami Cargo currently costs £8,000, £300 more than the base-spec passenger Ami. There are no trim level options. If you fancy an Ami of any sort, the best starting point is the dedicated website provided by the brand - citroen.co.uk/ami. You can order from here direct, or use the site to find the nearest to you of the 81 UK Citroen retailers that can offer you an Ami test drive.
Standard equipment includes a digital speedometer, folding side windows, LED front and rear lights, and, rather surprisingly, a USB charging port and (even more surprisingly) a panoramic glass roof panel. And of course you get a charging cable, this one built into the passenger door with a Type2 adaptor.
Citroen offers a few lifestyle Ami 'accessories', like an 'Ultimate Ears Boom Speaker' and a Parrot Ami Hands-Free kit but basically, there aren't any real options other than the various trim permutations we've already covered. Citroen says that businesses can add vehicle wrap to the outside bodywork, but suggests using a thinner wrap than usual to ensure a good connection to the plastic panels.
What about safety? Well, as we've mentioned elsewhere in this film, quadricyles aren't required to feature any safety equipment, so, rather disappointingly, this Ami can't be fitted with any - even as an option. No airbags, no camera safety aids - nothing. Are you likely to need them travelling at no more than 27.9mph? Well that's up to you. There's no Hill Start Assist feature either, which will be rather disconcerting when you park on a slope or set off from an uphill junction.
Practicalities and Costs
You won't be expecting a van this small to take much. You might be surprised. Astonishingly, load lengths of up to 1.2m long and 1.3m wide can be accommodated, though they'd better not be heavy because the payload maxes at just 140kg. Total storage capacity (thanks to the absence of the passenger seat) is rated at 260-litres and the module shelf behind the driver's chair can take another 40kg if required. Altogether, there's 400-litre (0.4m3) of stowage capacity inside. In comparison, a full-electric Renault ZOE van can take 510-litres, with a 387kg payload - but that's much pricier. The Ami Cargo's cabin load space is based around an interior module, basically a storage box with a shelf doubling as a desk, giving the driver somewhere to work when parked. An indentation on top can take a laptop or a clipboard. The shelf can be removed to allow for the carriage of smaller items.
The efficiency and electrical issues are of course exactly the same as with the passenger Ami. UK models will come with a Type 2 EV charging adapter in addition to a 3-pin plug. Expect charging to take around 3 hours from a normal domestic plug, which is the only way of charging. With this EV, there are no decisions to be made about fast or rapid chargers with different plugs and different networks. We gave you the operating range in our driving section - up to 46 miles - and early test indications are that achieving that on a regular basis is very possible. We can also expect this vehicle to hold its value very well indeed, so if you're prepared to part with your Ami Cargo, you should find plenty people who want to take it on for not much less than you paid for it.
Summary
The My Ami Cargo is aimed at a very specific little metropolitan business niche but if your company fits that, you might like it very much indeed. It can't accommodate much, but likely urban-based business users probably won't need it to. They're not likely to be much concerned by the restricted top speed, the utilitarian cabin or the basic standard of safety either.
It's cute, fun to drive and super-cheap to run, plus it'll promote an eco-minded image and retain its value. If that's not enough to convince you, then you probably don't fit the Ami Cargo's buying demographic anyway. But if you do, rather unique kind of van experience awaits.
