LESS IS MORE

Dacia wants to bring electric mobility to the masses via this funky, not-chunky four seater

- WORDS JASON BARLOW

Contain yourselves: the Hipster is officially still just a concept.

But it's got our attention and bagged the TopGear Design of the Year award. Look at the size of it a mere 3m long and 1.5m wide, but there's room inside for four adults and the boot can swallow up to 500 litres. It's a claimed 20 per cent lighter than Dacia's electric Spring – that would make it just 750kg – and aims to halve the carbon footprint over its life cycle compared to the best EVs currently on sale.

The Hipster addresses another significant issue: even cheap electric cars are still too expensive to work as mass mobility solutions. Dacia has decided it's time for a big shift in priorities, and positions the Hipster in a lineage that includes the Citroen 2CV, Fiat 500, and the original Mini. Small cars, yes, but giant shoes to fill. NB: it's not a quadricycle, and has more to say for itself than the Citroen Ami, Renault Twizy, or those little plastic Noddy cars you see in France.

In the EV context, the solution is interesting. Dacia says the Hipster offers enough range for daily journeys while only needing to be replenished twice a week. Some stats: in France, 94 per cent of motorists travel less than 24 miles per day, while their equivalents on our side of the English Channel manage just 19.

On which basis, everything can be smaller, lighter and more 'essential'. There's no word on what sort of batteries the Hipster would use – most likely lithium ion phosphate, they're cheaper – or how powerful the motor will be. We'll give it a concept pass for now and treat this little car as a mobile life hack, one that taps into the growing realisation that the modern world is addled by the dopamine rush of social media. There are only so many hours you can squander watching footage captured by a dachshund wearing a Go Pro.