City One

It is almost the end of July in 2026. I had intended to write a weblog post about travels in the Lowlands of Scotland, undertaken between 2026-07-06 and 2026-07-10. While the post was started, in was not completed. Instead, I had to search through my 169 drafts, and 35 scheduled posts, to find one that could be used.

Much of this weblog post was written on Monday, 2022-05-16, with some later modifications, the last of which was on 2024-07-29 at 12:00. It was about a city car made by Adaptive City Mobility of Munich, Germany. Reading about it, I had to check to ensure the vehicle still existed. Unfortunately, there are conflicting opinions. However, one hour before this post was scheduled to be published, a website confirmed that the company had filed for insolvency on 2022-03-28. It was too late to change direction.

At the time of my initial writing, Trish and I were still in the process of finding an electric vehicle (EV) to replace our (almost) ten year old Mazda 5 internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicle. It was not going well. Then I come across City One.

Several webites claimed that City One is the name of a vehicle soon to be manufactured in Germany by ACM = Adaptive City Mobility, the winner of the German Design Award for 2022, in in the category Excellent Product Design – Conceptional Transportation for its innovative, flexible and energy-efficient vehicle concept.

Reading about the vehicle was a frustrating process because the materials from ACM are steeped in propaganda. For example, it was extremely difficult to find vehicle specifications in website documents. Instead, I stopped a video so that I could transfer on-screen dimensions to an appropriate place in this document.

Just two days before initially writing this, Patricia, my dear wife, had commented that our neighbouring municipality, Indre Fossen, was on its second shared vehicle, for people who don’t want to invest in a private vehicle of their own, and who have a minimal need to drive. We are not in that demographic group, living 13 km from the municipal centre, Straumen.

City One had the potential to become an ideal car for me. I feel no need to depress my neighbour by owning a bigger vehicle than she has. I am not in the business of transporting a soccer squad, and my days of transporting building supplies on a utility trailer are over. Looking at statistics for 2021, our car could rack up 14 000 km a year, divided between two residents and one or more guests. Currently, after 3.5 years, Buzz has almost 30 000 km in total. In the future 8 000 km a year will be about all we drive. Most of the time, Buzz transports one or two people on short excursions. The City One could handle that. Unfortunately, it is unable to handle our most common extreme situation, transporting up to five people, and luggage. For me, the one obvious minus of the City One is its lack of sliding doors!

ACM’s mission statement reads: “Our mission is to provide universal access to affordable electric vehicles in cities across the world. Thereby, we want to address the issue of climate change and overall improvement of quality of life.”

Yet, when I look at photographs, and struggle reading through documents, City One has a serious constraint, in its apparent lack of safety equipment. Thus, I wonder just how seriously ACM is focusing on Europeans and North Americans. My conclusion is that these areas are probably not the target market for this vehicle, which has a focus on Africa and Asia. This is despite the fact the China is closer to these markets than Munich. Depite this, my feeling is that Europeans and North Americans are precisely the people who should be considering such a vehicle, in order to reduce their oversized carbon footprints.

Exercises

In order to appreciate the specifications of a City One vehicle, it is probably best to compare it with something you know, such as your own vehicle. Wikipedia often provides articles about specific vehicles and years, that should allow you to obtain this data. Vehicle length, width (including and excluding mirrors), height, wheelbase and ground clearance (in areas that experience snow or potholed roads) are important dimensions, along with the curb weight.

The dimensions (in mm) of the City One are 3 600 (length) x 1650 (width) x 1670 (height), all constructed on a 2 500 wheelbase, with a mass of 950 kg. I have been unable to find its ground clearance. With one exception, these specifications are very close to those of the first vehicle we owned in Norway, a Subaru Justy that was 3 700 x 1 530 x 1 360 on a 2 300 wheelbase, with a mass of 855 kg. The big difference is in terms of height. This 310 mm difference means that the City One is much more spacious.

The price that I have seen for the City One is €11 000. Yes, I would be willing to pay this for the basic car, but I would also be willing to pay an additional €10 000 (or more) for augmented safety equipment. I am not quite sure what the City One comes with, but as an older driver, I have ticked boxes for the following equipment on other vehicles: airbags; AEBS = automatic emergency braking system; adaptive cruise control and speed limiter; LED-lighting (headlights, fog lights, running lights, brake lights, turn signals); automatic light dimming; heated and retractable electric mirrors; warning systems for active lane management, blind zone, fatigue, traffic sign reading; front, back and side parking sensors, rear-view camera with parking assistance; rain sensors.

In addition, I would also like to have a heat pump, air conditioning with effective heating and ventilation (remembering that I live in a climate with long winters). Since driving up hills is a integral part of living in Norway, the motor should have sufficient torque to accelerate to 80 km/h, a typical speed limit, going uphill. Regenerative brakes should effectively decelerate and stop the vehicle even going downhill. A maximum speed of 100 km/h is acceptable. The speed limit on the fastest road I take is 90 km/h, although in the future this may increase.

What I do not need are luxury items.

Sixteen years after the purchase of the Justy, I thought we had found an ideal vehicle, the Citroën Berlingo Multispace, launched in 1996: 4 140 x 1 720 x 1 810 on a 2 690 wheelbase, 140 (suboptimal) ground clearance, and a mass of 1 163 kg. The adults in the family, found it a suitable roundabout. Not all of our offspring were equally enthusiastic about it.

We purchased a second MPV, used, in 2006. It was a Citroën Evasion = Eurovan: 4 448 x 1808 x 1709 on a 2819 wheelbase, with 130 ground clearance. Its mass was 1420 kg. It was fitted as a seven-seater. This was used for weekly commuting between Inderøy and Molde, usually involving about 350 km in each direction, taking about six hours.

Yet, when it came time to replace the Berlingo, the next generation had become larger and more luxurious. Its critical dimensions were: 4 384 x 1 810 x 1 805 on a 2 728 wheelbase, with the same 140 ground clearance. The electric version with a mass of 1 604 kg had 22.5 kWh of battery capacity, giving it a range of 170 km, on a good day. With a curb weight of 1 407 kg, the 1.6 litre diesel version was the most common variant. Not everyone appreciated its large size.

In some markets, such as Italy and even in Sweden, when the Berlingo inflated itself, a smaller model became available, the Citroën Nemo Multispace: 3 860 x 1 710 x 1 720 on a 2 513 wheelbase, with a mass of 1 165 kg. Even its ground clearance was better at 150 mm. In theory, this vehicle or its sister brands Peugeot Bipper and Fiat Qubo would have suited our needs. However, they were not noted for their reliability, or safety rating.

We ended up with a Hyundai Matrix, not to be confused with the totally different Toyota Matrix. Its dimensions were 4020 x 1740 x 1640 with a wheelbase of 2 600, a mass of 1 270 kg, and a more acceptable ground clearance of 160 mm, and our highest so far.

I contacted City One by email. More than a year later, I was still awaiting a reply. Soon, the goal of purchasing a City One, was unrealistic. There is no infrastructure for the vehicle in Norway, so one is reliant on the existing infrastructure. Besides, we are the happy owners of a Volkswagen ID. Buzz, ordered 2022-05-23, and delivered 2023-02-13.

Anno 2026, for less than half the price of a Buzz, (NOK 300 k or < USD 30 k) one can purchase a new but basic Renault 4 E-Tech. The specifications are: l = 4143, w = 1796/ 2020 (without/ with mirrors), h = 1552, wheelbase = 2624, ground clearance = 200 mm, weight (net) = 1537 kg, gross = 1980 kg. Battery = 52 kWh = 315 km real range, 475 max range, power = 110 kW, torque = 245 Nm. Top speed = 150 km/h, acceleration = 8.2 s. The worst problem with the Renault 4 is its safety score = 4/5 stars.

For me, there is no need to look at either the City One or the Renault 4 E-Tech. Buzz will be our last vehicle.

Left, the Renault 4, produced from 1961 – 1994. Right, the Renault 4 E-Tech, produced from 2025.