The first electric Citroën
11/12/2016
Car manufacturers tried their hand at electric cars time and again, including Citroën, the first of which was in 1993. The Citroën AX small car was taken as the basis and an 11 kW DC motor was installed in the engine compartment. The batteries were also distributed in the engine compartment and in the underbody. In this way, the usable space was largely retained.
However, the car became significantly heavier with the 120-volt nickel-cadmium batteries. The kerb weight was given as 995 kg, which was around 200 to 300 kg more than the standard AX with a gasoline engine. The payload was correspondingly lower, and a maximum of four people were allowed to ride along.
Nevertheless, the Citroën AX Electrique could travel around 100 km and reach speeds of just over 90 km/h. However, the heating had to be powered by petrol on cold days.
395 (374 according to other sources) examples of the Citroën AX Electrique are said to have been built from 1993 to 1996, while its successor, the Saxo electrique, was somewhat more successful from 1996 to 2003 with around 2200 cars produced. Nevertheless, this project was certainly not a commercial success.
