SEAT has been a step behind the likes of VW and Audi when it comes to electrification. But the Spanish manufacturer is gearing up to introduce a couple of pure-electric vehicles by the end of the decade – and now Auto Express has had a brief chance to try the first all-electric SEAT to make it onto public roads: the e-Mii.
In truth, the e-Mii is about more than just an electric car - and that’s why it’s not yet for sale. The vehicle itself is, as you’d expect, almost a carbon copy of the Volkswagen e-up!, which is already available for the general public to buy. It has the same 18.7kWh battery, the same 99-mile EV range and the same top speed of 80mph.
Beyond that, SEAT’s approach differs, because it’s using the e-Mii as a test bed for a number of different systems, including car sharing apps. So our drive doesn’t start by just blipping a key; instead, we fire up a phone application that selects the e-Mii in question and tells us whether it is available.
There’s a short delay (only a couple of seconds) once the SEAT assistant has told the car to unlock. But it doesn’t take long for the required data to reach the cloud and then be relayed back down to the e-Mii, prompting the telltale click from the doors that grants us access. The car is still started using a key, incidentally - but it’s stored in a slot below the steering column, and attached to a tethering cable that’s long enough for it to reach the key barrel.
The whole process of gaining entry would be a bit of an inconvenience if this were your regular vehicle. Certainly, in this respect, at least, a mobile phone-based system isn’t quite as convenient as keyless entry and start. However, you can see how it would work nicely in a car-sharing environment. And that’s exactly what SEAT is planning to introduce (alongside the e-Mii), testing the system among a select group of employees at its Metropolis Lab technical skunkworks in Barcelona.
On the road the e-Mii is every bit as capable as the e-up!, with the same compliant chassis and direct steering allowing you to nip in and out of traffic with ease, taking full advantage of the instant power delivery of the 60kW electric motor. You can drive it as a normal two-pedal auto if you like, but it’s satisfying to flick the gear selector into ‘B’ and switch on brake energy recuperation. This, in effect, allows you to drive with a single pedal, anticipating traffic flow – using the electric motor’s harnessing of the energy to bring the car to a halt.
As we discovered when we gave the VW a more in-depth test earlier this year, the range of these cars is starting to look pretty poor in an era when Renault’s ZOE supermini can manage up to 180 miles. Even so, VW Group sources suggest that batteries with higher energy density are set to arrive for e-up! drivers soon, and you’d have to presume they’d be available on the e-Mii as well.
- Model: SEAT e-Mii
- Price: Not for sale
- Engine: 18.7kWh electric motor
- Power: 81bhp
- Transmission: Single-speed auto, front-wheel drive
- 0-62mph: 12.4 seconds
- Top speed: 80mph
- Range/CO2: 99 miles, 0g/km
- On sale: 2019 (est)
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