Citroen says EV concept uses cardboard and has top speed of 68 mph

Citroen’s oli thought vehicle photographed in Paris on September 29, 2022. The carmaker suggests it has a best velocity of 68 miles for each hour.

Eric Piermont | AFP | Getty Photographs

French automaker Citroen produced information of a new electric powered notion automobile Thursday, with its CEO telling CNBC that the electrification of particular person transportation represented an critical aspect of a sustainable upcoming.

In a doc outlining the concept, which is termed oli, Citroen stated it had a goal bodyweight of roughly 1,000 kilograms, or a person metric ton, and a assortment of as considerably as 248 miles.

Citroen claimed the oli’s top rated velocity experienced been minimal to 68 miles for each hour. The brand name, which is owned by Stellantis, claimed “20% to 80% charging” would consider 23 minutes.

The automaker extra that automobile areas could be “reused or recycled during possession.” According to the doc delivering information of the oli, it has a “flat bonnet, roof and decide-up bed panels” that are “designed from re-cycled honeycomb cardboard.”

The agency was eager to emphasize the vehicle’s lesser scale. “Alternatively than staying a 2,500kg ‘palace on wheels’ stuffed with screens and devices, oli proves that far more can be realized with significantly less,” it said.

Citroen also mentioned that the restriction of the oli’s speed to a utmost of 68 mph experienced been done to “maximise efficiency.”

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Speaking to CNBC Thursday, CEO Vincent Cobée stressed the value of electrical mobility likely ahead, sketching out a eyesight of how he saw the sector creating.

“Of course, and I imagine we can all concur with it, the generate toward an electrification [of] specific transport is a extremely vital element of a sustainable future,” Cobée, who was speaking to CNBC’s Charlotte Reed, stated.

“I’m not even talking about regulation, I am talking mostly about societal anticipations,” he included. “How we get there is a quite important query.”

Cobée went on to emphasize the worth of broadening accessibility to EVs. “A single thing is, for the final 10 a long time, we have viewed an enhance in electric car overall performance,” he said. “I am speaking autonomy, electricity, velocity and, as a consequence, excess weight and cost.”

“This for us is a worry due to the fact, actually, if the long term of an electric powered car or truck is 2.5 tons of pounds and 70,000 euros or extra of price tag, then it truly is not for everybody.”

With European economies struggling with an energy crisis and soaring price ranges over the coming months, there have been fears in some quarters that the increasing price of charging an EV will disincentivize uptake among the individuals.

According to info unveiled this week, electric auto drivers in the U.K. have found the price of making use of a community, “swift” charger on a fork out-as-you-go tariff increase by 42% since May perhaps.

And speaking to CNBC previously in September, the head of equity method at Saxo Bank mentioned “the price tag benefit for electrical autos as opposed to a gasoline car or truck” was “speedy diminishing” in Europe.

“I’m genuinely thinking to what diploma that will get started to affect revenue for EVs,” Peter Garnry reported.

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Citroen’s Cobée touched upon these subjects all through his interview with CNBC. “There is a recent issue about vitality prices — rightly so,” he reported. “Now, I … want to make the point that all those issues could possibly be short or mid-term only.”

“Obviously, we will drive to a transition in phrases of supply of electrical power, concentrating on electrification,” he extra.

Much more sustainable energy resources would be developed, he reported, “and we can hope that this will sustain the selling price and the supply of power inside of affordable limits.”

“So the existing shorter phrase crisis has an effect on orders, as we see now for electric vehicles, but this is, I would say … probably an exaggerated reaction.”

“And essentially we can expect that inside of a specific timeframe electricity prices will become additional less than control. And in any circumstance, I do not consider it will modify the change to electrification.”