• Official range of 199 miles
• We think 150-170 miles is a more realistic range
• Previous C3s have had reliability woes

What are the running costs?

The Citroen e-C3 comes with a reasonably-sized 43.7kWh usable battery – slightly larger than the batteries found in the base MINI Cooper Electric, Hyundai Inster and Renault 5, but smaller than the long-range batteries found in each of these rivals. It’s good for a claimed 199-mile range on the WLTP cycle and will return upwards of four miles per kilowatt hour (kWh) in gentle driving. Throw in a bit of time on the motorway and this drops into the threes, so expect a real-world range of 150-170 miles, much less once winter drags down temperatures.

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Citroen says the battery can be charged from 20% to 80% in 26 minutes, which sounds impressive but remember this is a modestly sized battery. Maximum DC charging is just 100kW, which is on the slow side these days, but acceptable for the price and market it’s aimed at. A cheaper model with a smaller battery is also on the way.

Citroen was the first brand to be accepted for the government-backed Electric Car Grant, with the e-C3 eligible for a helpful £1,500 discount.

Servicing and warranty

Citroen offers two different service plans for the e-C3: a service plan, and a service and maintenance plan. The former breaks down servicing costs into manageable monthly fees, the latter also covers MOTs, wear items (such as wiper blades and brake pads), and parts failure. Service intervals are every two year or 16,000 miles (whichever comes first).

Citroen also offers an extended warranty to pad out the stingy three-year/60,000-mile warranty offered as standard. This three-year warranty is in line with MINI and Renault, but behind the five years offered by Hyundai.

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Reliability

• Electric motors are generally reliable
• Too soon to say with this new model
• But previous small Citroens don’t have good track records

This is an area where the previous Citroen C3 (a combustion-only car) struggled. It was subject to 16 separate recalls across its seven year lifespan, and there are well-documented ‘wet-belt’ issues on certain petrol examples. There’s also a worrying stop-drive issued for dangerous airbags on 2009-2019 Citroen C3s (which isn’t strictly Citroen’s fault; over 100 million cars are known to be affected by the Takata Airbag scandal).

While this lineage may not provide much hope, the decreased complexity (it has 30% fewer parts than the old model) and added simplicity of electric motors gives it a fighting chance.

Got one already? Why not help other readers by leaving a Citroen e-C3 owner review.