Citroen Ami Cargo electric van review (2024)

• Great visibility
• Very simple controls
• Slow top speed

Compared to a van the Citroen Ami feels small, slow, exposed and basic in its approach. We’re going to assume that you’ve not this far thinking that you are going to replace your fleet of Citroen Berlingos with a load of Ami Cargos, though, so that isn’t the most relevant comparison. Instead it’s best to compare it to riding a bike or a moped, or indeed driving a Renault Twizy, through town.

What is the Citroen Ami Cargo like to drive?

The first thing to note is that every Citroen Ami in the UK will be in left-hand drive. It wasn’t originally intended to come to the UK and the economies involved mean it wasn’t worth reconfiguring it move the steering wheel over – it is pretty much a straight import.

However, other than remembering which door to get into, this shouldn’t have a big impact on how you drive around in the Ami. The visibility from behind the wheel is fantastic, with huge windows, small pillars and a glass roof that stretches far back into the cabin. That glass roof is great for visibility – making eye contact with bigger vehicles at traffic lights to be sure they have seen you for example – but it is a shame that there is no blind on there as on a bright day you have no way of keeping the sun out of your eyes, unless you bring your own cap or sunglasses that is.

Those with long arms will be able to touch all four corners of the cabin from the driver’s seat with minimal stretching, and even shorter drivers will be able to easily reach three of them. This means there is no real need for parking sensors or cameras – you know where the extremities of the Cargo are because they are so close at hand. The dimensions are a real bonus. You won’t fit through tiny gaps like a scooter, but you will swiftly build confidence to head into the sort of gaps in traffic that you would be in two minds about in a full-size van. It doesn’t open up more of the city necessarily, but it does make it more relaxing to get around it.

There is a distinct lack of frills in the Ami Cargo, which means firm seats with little padding, steering that isn’t very assisted or sharp and a firm ride that lets you feel most of the bumps around town, particularly small ones. While big speed bumps aren’t too bad, cobbles are a sensory experience you won’t want to repeat too often if you have the choice – they shake the entire cabin and it’s really loud.

There is no real brake regeneration to recharge the battery to speak of either, so driving the Ami is a simple two-pedal driving process. The acceleration is progressive and smooth but not as instantaneous as some more grown up EVs, which means there is enough responsiveness to nip around town but not enough to throw the contents of the loading area around.

As well as no brake regeneration there is not any hill-hold either, so if you are in a steep part of town you will have to make regular use of the handbrake to stop it rolling backwards.

Oddly, the gear selectors are located down to the left of the driver’s seat, where you would sometimes find the heated seat control or seat angle button. There is also no Park – just Drive, Reverse and Neutral, but this is easy to adapt to.

Although it isn’t a quick vehicle, it is fairly easy to get up to the Ami’s top speed. With it being limited to 28mph this means that the chances of setting off a speed camera are thankfully reduced but not totally eliminated. Although the embarrassment of being caught speeding in the Ami might well mean you remain under the limit when in 20mph zones.

That said, the Ami does its best work at around 10-15mph, which is the speed you’ll find yourself at most often when heading down small urban side streets.

• Basic and plenty of plastic
• Odd door opening
• Cargo not huge but varied in space

One big oddity of the Ami Cargo comes when you go to open the door, as the driver’s door is rear hinged, so it opens the opposite way to almost any vehicle you will have driven before. The passenger, or cargo, door is conventionally hinged, though.

What is the Citroen Ami Cargo’s cabin like?

The Ami Cargo gets exactly the same driver’s space and layout as the two-seater, which is good in that there isn’t much to strip out in the first place. This means a seat that is firm and lacking in padding but that has enough adjustment that taller drivers shouldn’t have any issue getting in and comfortable. In fact, there is marginally more adjustment than in some vans where the bulkhead prevents you from sliding the seat back as far as you would like.

That said, some of the Cargo’s little storage is behind the seat, so taller drivers might find they can carry fractionally less behind the seat, but there is very little in it.

There is no infotainment to speak of in the Ami. There is just a smartphone holder, which is relatively flimsy, and a USB slot to plug your device in. You can get a standalone Bluetooth speaker as an accessory, though. There is also very little in the way of frills in general – you can see the steering column turning down in the footwell when you look from certain angles for example. There aren’t even electric windows, but nor are there window winders. Instead you have to fold the glass up on the outside of the vehicle and secure it in a clip.

• Cheap to buy
• Quick to charge
• Exempt from all the major urban charges

A small van gets a small price – the Ami Cargo is priced at just under £8,000 at the time of writing, with no options to add on to bump the price up. This price does include VAT, though, so business buyers will be able to take that down comfortably below £7,000.

Although the Ami doesn’t come with some of the headline grabbing low monthly deals that were touted around when it was first announced, where it claimed to be cheaper per month than a mobile phone, it is still fairly accessible on a PCP basis.

The comparatively small battery might only offer a maximum range of 46 miles, but it is also swift to recharge it. It only takes three hours to get from 0-100% on a domestic connection. There is a type 2 connection on the cable, but this doesn’t increase the charging speed, it just opens up the possibility of charging on a wallbox as well as on a conventional plug.

The main reason for the Type 2 plug is the fact that the cable comes with a European two-pin plug, so the connector acts as an adaptor.

How much does it cost to service the Citroen Ami Cargo?

There is a selection of packages that will help with the cost of servicing, which you can either purchase up front or add to your monthly payments. There are packages to cover for the first two, three, four or five years, with a 10,000-mile allowance for each year.

Citroen Ami Cargo standard equipment

There is only one trim of Ami Cargo, which comes with the following equipment:

• LED front and rear lights
• Panoramic glass roof
• Folding windows
• USB socket
• Charging cable
• Loading area divider with modular floor

With an all-electric powertrain and very little in the way of high-tech parts there shouldn’t be loads to go wrong on the Ami. That said, it remains an untested concept for now.

• Next to nothing in terms of modern safety kit
• Safer than a bike?

There is very little to say about the safety kit on the Ami cargo – there isn’t really any. On account of being a quadricycle it doesn’t get held to the same standards as a car, so it is really rather basic. There are no airbags, and certainly no modern electronic kit such as lane keeping assist and the like.

Best to think of it as being safer than being out on a bike as any bumps will hit the bodywork rather than your own body.