Peugeot iOn (2011 – 2018) Review
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Peugeot iOn (2011 – 2018) At A Glance
Fun to drive small electric town car. Has a 90-mile range. Fuel cost for 10,000 miles a mere £208.
£415 a month four year all-inclusive lease is expensive. Huge cost of replacement batteries effectively writes the cars off.
Instead of selling its version of the Mitsubishi i-MIEV, Peugeot is offering it on a £415pm 4 year all inclusive lease only. This sounds dear until you add the cost of the fuel: just £210 for £10,000 miles compared to around£1,700 for a conventional car doing 30mpg.
Reviews for Peugeot iOn (2011 – 2018)'s top 3 rivals
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Peugeot iOn (2011 – 2018) handling and engines
The batteries offer roughly a 90 mile maximum range in cities, without using the aircon. In slow, 10mph traffic this halves to 45 miles. And cruising at 72mph you should also get 45 miles. But be warned. Using the heater can absorb 45% of the battery charge and using the aircon up to 25%.
Home recharging through a special 16 amp fuse takes six hours to charge the battery fully. At Quickcharge roadside of filling station powerpoints, the battery can be charged 20% in 5 minutes. 50% takes 15 minutes, which might just be enough to get you home. 80% takes 30 minutes.
It’s immediately fun to drive with a very sprightly get up and go. The official 0-62mph is 15 seconds, but with no gears to go through it feels much faster than that and 20mph to 40 takes a mere 4.0 seconds. Top speed is an electrifying 81mph.
You don’t expect a tall and narrow car to handle well, but like the curiously addictive Daihatsu Move of many years ago, the centre of gravity is very low, mostly below floor level. So with a reasonably light driver is can be hustled through corners and around roundabouts with gusto.
There’s nothing wrong with the ride quality either because the villages I encountered had every kind of traffic calming measure known to the French, including humps, speed cushions, flower pot chicanes and cobbles.
| Engine | MPG | 0-62 | CO2 |
|---|---|---|---|
| iOn | - | 15.9 s | - |
Peugeot iOn (2011 – 2018) models and specs
| Dimensions | |
|---|---|
| Length | 3474 mm |
| Width | 1792 mm |
| Height | 1608 mm |
| Wheelbase | 2550 mm |
| Miscellaneous | |
|---|---|
| Kerb Weight | 1120 kg |
| Boot Space | - |
| Warranty | 3 years / 60000 miles |
| Servicing | 20000 miles |
| Costs | |
|---|---|
| List Price | £20,534 |
| Insurance Groups | 28 |
| Road Tax Bands | Exempt |
| Official MPG | - |
| Euro NCAP Safety Ratings | |
|---|---|
| Adult | - |
| Child | - |
| Pedestrian | - |
| Overall | 4 |
| Hatchback | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Version | List Price | MPG | 0-62 |
| Hatch 5dr | £20,534 | - | 15.9 s |
Model History
August 2009
i0n "zero-emissions" electric vehicle coming at the end of 2010, developed from Mitsubishi i-MIVEC and aimed at both retail and fleet customers.
3,474mm (11’ 5”) long x 1,792mm (5’ 11”) wide (inc mirrors), 1,475mm (4’ 10”) wide (mirrors folder) x 1,608mm (5’ 3”) high
The i0n will have a potential range of 80 miles due to the use of lithium-ion batteries and will be the ideal solution for the ever-increasing challenges of urban mobility versus environmental protection.
With four doors and four seats, a compact length of 3.48 m and a turning circle of 4.50 m, it will be ideal for busy congested city centres. It develops a maximum power output of 64 bhp and a torque of 180 Nm and, with its maximum speed of 80 mph, it will have all the performance it needs in this busy environment. It has an operating range of 80 miles on a single charge of its lithium-ion batteries and they can be recharged in six hours using a conventional mains power supply or recharged to 80% capacity within thirty minutes, thanks to its fast charging system.
These performance levels allow this "zero-emission" city car to offer a good level of versatility, comparable in performance and comfort to a small conventional internal combustion engine vehicle.
It also includes some innovative functions, thanks in particular to the "localised communication unit". This unit not only authorises the emergency call system for which Peugeot is a leader in terms of deployment throughout Europe (location of vehicles at the time of an accident and triggering the dispatch of suitable emergency services) but also authorises data transfer (battery status, distance covered, distance to travel before maintenance is due, etc...) thus providing assistance especially for fleet operators.
November 2009
Announcement that Peugeot i0n to go on sale at the end of 2010. Will have a range of 80 miles. It develops a maximum power output of 64 bhp and a torque of 180 Nm giving a top speed of 80mph. Its lithium-ion batteries can be recharged in six hours using a conventional mains power supply or recharged to 80% capacity within thirty minutes, thanks to its fast charging system. Peugeot will be first to offer test drives of the vehicle
September 2010
To be offered on the basis of a 4 year lease at £415 + VAT a month. Electricity cost £208 for 10,000 miles. VED and London Congestion tax exempt.
Electric motor delivering 47kW (64PS) from 3,500 to 8,000rpm; 180Nm torque from 0 to 2,000rpm. 0-60 15 seconds; top speed 81 mph; 30kmh - 60kmh 3.5 seconds; 80kmh - 129kmh 13 seconds. 0 g/km CO2. £0 VED. £0 London Congestion Tax. Electricity cost £208 for 10,000 miles.
What to watch out for
I n the summer of 2012 Mitsubishi MiEV ‘s French counterparts, the , Citroen C-Zero and Peugeot iOn started using a battery with reduced capacity, 14.5 kWh (80 cells) instead of 16 kWh (88 cells). Mitsubishi i-MiEV kept the 16 kWh battery.
A t the time PSA said that cars would keep the previous range because the regenerative braking was now more efficient. The truth is that there was a change in cell chemistry, LEV50 was replaced by LEV50N . A change of electrolyte that allows it to be more heat resistant, similar to what happened in the Leaf with the lizard battery. The Ragone curve (battery efficiency) also improved.
“We have developed new large sized 50 Ah lithium ion cells with specific energy of 110 Wh kg for electric vehicle (EV) applications. The cells were redesigned on the basis of advanced technologies optimized composition of lithium manganese oxide positive active material and adoption of electrolyte additive. The cells exhibit excellent performances namely, the high rate discharge capability at 6 C rate at 25 °C is 96% based on 0.2 C rate, and the retained discharge capacity is 90% after 700 cycles under the condition of D.O.D. 100% at 45 °C.”
These new cells retain 80 % of the initial capacity after 5.500 charge/discharge cycles (100 % DOD @ 25°C).
14-02-2016:Identical Peugeot iOn now down to £12,495 OTR. Reader report: "What a terrible car - slow, rattly, narrow, impossible to demist, blown all over the road by sidewinds, awful build quality. The windscreen cracked spontaneously overnight. And when our car had a low-speed rear impact with a lamp-post, I had a look under the back bumper and found practically nothing between that and the back axle/motor/gearbox. I was able to pull out the dented bumper and thin supporting metal strut with one bare hand! If the car had been rear-ended by a bloke on a pushbike it would have been a write-off. We got it for £12,995 and still lost £6,000 in one year, after which we could stand it no longer."
08-03-2018:Report of total battery failure of 2013 Citroen C-Zero. At the time, PSA quoted 22,610 Euros + tax for the full battery pack.
29-07-2019:Report from reader in Guernsey that he is facing a £12,000 bill to replace the battery pack in his Peugerot iOn. He is trying to patch together a replacement using the good cells but cannot obtain the control codes.
07-08-2019:Peugeot confirmed that it cannot give technical details and there is no alternative to a £12,000 new battery for the iON, effectively writing off the car. (The high price of the battery was always a problem with this car and its sister Mitsubishi i-MIEV and Citroen C-Zero.)
