DRIVEN Can Firefly light up the small EV market?

MANY new EVs from China blend facelessly into the crowd. But Nio, the electric car giant and innovator of battery-swapping technology, wants to change that with the Firefly, a city car with character that's designed to challenge European competition.

- Thomas Geiger

Just because the Firefly is small and cute, don't be fooled; it's got a lot of tricks up its sleeves. It's as lively as any electric car, smartly tuned and with a tiny turning circle thanks to its rear-wheel-drive layout. Power comes from a 141bhp/200Nm electric motor that makes the 1,500kg car feel more sprightly than its 0-62mph time of 8.1 seconds suggests.

Things get a bit tougher once you leave the urban sprawl, and with a relatively small 42.1kWh battery, the maximum WLTP-tested range stands at 205 miles.