Complete Kit Car – September 2019

52 September 2019 http://www.completekitcar.co.uk

FIRST DRIVE | MEV ELECTROCET

would usually be. These are more usually

used in domestic power walls for harnessing

power from solar panels, and are temperature

stable so don’t require cooling. They’re

available off-the-shelf, but couriers require

a special licence to carry them. Stuart

buys them directly from China. It has two

chargers. One uses an ordinary three-pin

plug and takes around six hours to top up

from empty, and a quicker charger that

halves the time taken.

The cost of the batteries is around £2000

in total, and the motor and controller add

about the same. Add in the price of an

Exocet kit and the small number of MX-5

parts needed and you’d build one yourself

for under £10,000. With its current set-up,

the Electrocet produces 11kW which is the

equivalent of about 10bhp. Yes, you did read

that correctly! Don’t be put off by that...

we’ll come back to it later when we get

behind the wheel.

But before we drive it, there’s one other

benefit of the low weight and power – the

car is eligible for an MSVA test rather than

IVA, which is a cheaper and simpler process.

To qualify, the car needs to produce no more

than 11kW and weigh under 450kg (not

including batteries).

The Electrocet is a mix of the familiar

and unfamiliar. Lack of transmission tunnel

aside, the interior feels much the same as

any other Exocet. As soon as you silently set

off, though, it has a character of its own. The

controller is set to only produce 70 percent

power (using full power is not good for

battery longevity) and it also modulates the

throttle, so even if you stamp on the pedal

it won’t give you everything off the line, but

instead add power progressively. The result

is a 0-60mph time of about 9.0sec. Not fast,

but the absence of noise somehow makes

progress seem swifter than it really is.

Handling seems a moot point in a car

designed for economical commuting,

but it still feels much like an Exocet.

The all-up weight of 420kg is less than a

regular Exocet, and its distribution around

the car is about the same, too. Even with

tyres more suited to low rolling resistance,

the 11kW never troubles them into breaking

grip or traction, but the small footprint

results in light, feelsome steering. In reality,

MEV

ELECTROCET

MOTOR: AC induction

motor, 7.5kW, Kelly

controller

BATTERIES: 12kWh

Lithium Manganese

battery pack

TRANSMISSION: Mazda

MX-5 differential

SUSPENSION: Front

and rear – Bespoke

wishbones, Mazda

MX-5 uprights, coil-over

dampers

BRAKES: Discs all-round

INTERIOR: Bare

aluminium panelling,

basic two-dial

dashboard

EXTERIOR: Exocet

panels, bespoke narrow

cycle wings

you’d be having more fun with an MX-5

engine and gearbox on board, but that’s not

to take away from the unusual experience the

Electrocet offers.

Could you really live with it for a 100-

mile weekly commute? Says Stuart: “We’d

need a screen and we’d need a soft top, but

at the end of the day if you want an energy

efficient vehicle you need to take away air

conditioning, electric mirrors, heated seats

and all the creature comforts and then you’d

get something energy efficient. But whether

the public would accept what they consider

to be an uncomfortable vehicle is unlikely.

So Tesla have got it spot on. They’ve quashed

this image of a milkfloat performance,

given us something that’s really quick, really

comfortable and looks great.”

But if you want your EV to be as

planet-friendly as possible, the Electrocet is

probably too much worse than walking or

cycling to work.

“STUART’S DAILY COMMUTE IS

16 MILES, SO HE CAN GO TO AND

FROM WORK FOR A WEEK AND

RECHARGE IT ON FRIDAYS”

048 MEV Electrocet.indd 52 01/08/2019 4:13 pm