Mia Electric Box Van due for 2012 UK launch

Custom-designed for use in urban conurbations like London, the range of mia electric vehicles will go on sale in the UK during Q1 next year and it includes a light commercial variant. At 3,190mm long, 1,640mm wide and 1,550mm high, it redefines the microvan.

With a load space of 1.5m³, the mia box van is capable of handling gross payloads of up to 436kg; allow 70kg for the driver and it results in a net figure of 366kg.

Mia EVs have a strikingly obvious unique feature for this sector of the market and one it shares with the McLaren F1 super car; the driver’s seat is mounted centrally. One big advantage of this approach is there is no need to move the steering column to accommodate right-hand drive markets.

Passenger car versions have two single rear seats in the short-wheelbase model and a three-seater bench in the long-wheelbase variant. The box van is based on the latter, minus the rear seating. Access to the load area is excellent thanks to the standard twin sliding side doors and a rear tailgate. The former also enable the driver to enter and exit the cab on either side of the van.

The rear wheels are driven by a rear-mounted 18kW electric motor, powered by a 12kWh Evida lithium-ion phosphate battery pack. This endows it with a top speed of around 70mph and a range of between 75 and 80 miles. It can be fully charged in five hours from a domestic power source and it’s claimed that short top-ups can be undertaken with no adverse effect to the life of the battery pack.

“The mia has been designed with cities like London firmly in mind and we consider the UK as a priority market for us, alongside France and Germany,” said Richard Deslandes, head of UK sales for mia.

“We’ve been overwhelmed by the response we’ve received since we launched in Geneva and now have 3,000 confirmed orders. Production started in June and we will be building 4,000 vehicles this year to meet this initial demand. We hope to ramp up production at our factory in Cerizay, France, to a total capacity of about 14,000 by the end of 2012.”

All mia variants are exempt from London’s congestion tax and prices for passenger models will start at around £27,000, minus the current £5,000 incentive subsidy, which unfortunately does not apply to commercial vehicles for some unknown reason. Mia reckons that running costs should equate to around £1.30/60 miles and the standard warranty for vehicle and battery is three years, optionally extendible to five years. Click here to visit mia's web site for more information.

Mia will showcase three variants of its innovative electric vehicle at this year’s EcoVelocity motor show (8 – 11 September) at Battersea Power Station, London.

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