As you drive through central London in a small Microlino electric car, barely visible among the hulking SUVs, it is surprising to receive so much attention. “Yes, Lego car!” shouts a scaffolder.
Made by Micro, the Swiss family business behind the mini-micro scooters, and modeled after the bubble cars that had a brief heyday in the 1950s, the two-seater is just 2.5 meters long – slightly smaller than a Smart car. The most unusual feature is the single door (there is also a rear hatch for access to the trunk), which is located at the front. The windshield and hood open to let you in.
The Microlino goes on sale in Britain this month, in light of a trend pushing the car industry in the opposite direction. Despite global warming and the warnings of environmental scientists, the demand for ever larger cars continues to grow.
According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), a respected forecaster, by 2023 almost half of global car sales would be SUVs (Sports Utility Vehicles). The definition of SUVs can be vague (usually something to do with a higher seating position and off-road styling), but the IEA said this week that “the shift towards increasingly larger and heavier cars” was the “defining automotive trend of the early aughts” 21 is.st century”.
Small cars are still a rarity, and the Microlino is enough to cause a stir. Countless people are taking, waving, laughing and taking pictures. Cyclists lean over to chat at traffic lights; a bus driver waits for his passengers for a few seconds to give a double thumbs up; a taxi driver suggests this could help this reporter’s romantic life.
It feels at home in the city, although with a range of 210 kilometers and a top speed of 90 km/h it can also handle trips further afield.
Squeezing into a small space between a Bentley and a Land Rover Defender, the Microlino parks facing outwards under the watchful eye of a bystander who turns out to be the owner of both luxury cars. This is in the posh London area that gave its name to the ‘Chelsea tractor’, where four-wheel drive has become standard, even though residents rarely need off-road vehicles to get to the shops and back.
However, the range of the SUV now extends much further than Chelsea. David Bailey, professor of business economics at the University of Birmingham, said several pressures have contributed to bigger cars. Customer demand for space and a comfortable seating position is part of this. Regulations are slightly different: airbags and emissions control systems (such as AdBlue for diesels) add a larger percentage to the cost in smaller cars.
“If a company produces a small car that takes up space on the production line, that’s an opportunity cost that could allow them to make a more profitable larger car,” Bailey said. However, he added: “If you make it on volume, you can still make a decent profit margin.”
Even the Mini has outgrown its name. Perhaps Britain’s best-known car, it was designed at a time when post-war fuel rationing made efficiency attractive. The original was 3.05 meters long. When relaunched in 2011, the length increased to 3.7 meters. One of the latest versions, the steroid electric Mini Countryman (“the largest Mini ever”) has more in common with a Land Rover at 4.4 meters.
Some other brands have gone the same way. Smart’s Fortwo was the best-known small car on European roads, but the new electric models (under part Chinese ownership) are significantly larger five-seaters.
The results of car growth are not good for the environment. Two hundred kilograms or more of extra weight for SUVs plus the extra air resistance from a larger frontal area means more fossil fuels are burned. That increases CO2 emissions by 20%, according to the IEA. A quarter of last year’s global oil demand growth can be attributed to gasoline SUVs. Electric SUVs consume much more valuable minerals such as lithium, nickel and cobalt than smaller vehicles, making decarbonization more difficult.
Larger vehicles also contribute to tire contamination and greatly increase the risk of pedestrian deaths, especially among women and children.
And they take up more space. SUVs need 0.3 additional square meters, which increases parking requirements and consumes city streets. The small Microlino, on the other hand, can get into the smallest openings.
Colin Walker, head of transport at the think tank Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit, is hopeful that the upcoming launch of smaller, cheaper electric models such as the Renault 5 and the £14,995 Dacia Spring will help accelerate the transition away from fossil fuels.
“One of the main barriers holding people back is the lack of smaller, cheaper electric vehicles,” he said. ‘I would argue that [manufacturers] were a bit slow building these models.
Of the major Western manufacturers, only Stellantis – the owner of Citroen, Peugeot, Chrysler, Vauxhall and others – has ventured into the truly small electric car segment. His £8,095 Citroen Ami has acquired something of a cult status despite its 28mph top speed and 47 miles range. It’s particularly popular with high school students in France, where the self-described “urban mobility object” is classified as a light quadricycle, meaning anyone aged 14 or over can ride it without a driver’s license.
Yet it is China that is expanding its growing dominance in electric cars into the realm of small cars, often based on cheap lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries. Among those on sale in China (but not yet in Europe) are Geely’s £6,000 Geometry Panda, Wuling Hongguang’s £3,400 Mini EV and the £9,100 Baojun Yep, a joint production between SAIC and US General Motors, which offers SUV styling in a small package.
Competition is fierce for the slightly larger hatchbacks. SAIC’s MG4 has already conquered the British market, where the brand originated. BYD’s impressive Dolphin is expected to make a big splash in the small family car market.
Merlin Ouboter, who oversaw the Microlino project and whose father, Wim, made Micro a household name with his scooters, hopes he can beat European rivals in the small car segment (although a £22,000 price tag and some thin parts suggest it is a good way to become a mass seller).
“Most of the cars we see on the road today are completely over-engineered for their daily use,” says Ouboter. The Microlino is intended for the vast majority of journeys (94% in the UK) that are shorter than 25 miles. For the rest, he foresees greater use of occasional shared or rental cars.
James Nix of Brussels campaign group Transport & Environment says other governments should follow the example of France, which is imposing higher parking charges for large cars in Paris and higher sales taxes nationally. That could help stem the annual increase in the size of new cars toward the scale of metal monsters in the US.
“Do we as Europeans want to replicate the evolution of the North American fleet?” Nix asked. “I don’t think that question has yet been asked at a political level.”