Used 2012 Peugeot iOn Electric Hatchback Review & Ratings

The Peugeot iOn Electric Hatchback is yet another example of the increasing trend of collaboration in development, design and production between the world's leading auto industry companies. This time around the iOn is the brainchild of Peugeot, their French sister company Citroen and Japanese giant Mitsubishi Motors. While each of these companies market their own electric hatchback version, under the label of the Citroen C-Zero, Mitsubishi -MiEV and Peugeot iOn, the cars will be manufactured in Japan, with all the cars sold in the European zone being assembled at the massive Peugeot-Citroen plant in France.

This mini-sized electric hatchback made its first appearance at the Frankfurt Auto Show of 2009 with Citroen's C-Zero as well as the Peugeot iOn making their official debut at the World Exhibition held in Brussels during January 2010, with production commencing in the autumn of the same year, and the first models reaching their distributors in early 2011.

Drawing its power from a totally lithium battery driven electric motor, the iOn will travel just 93 miles on a full charge, and that slightly disappointing figure can be even further reduced depending on conditions such as head winds, inclines number of passengers as well as weight load. All of these factors will play their part in reducing the battery's juice levels. With the prospect of a battery charging network being established still a thing of the future, means that the chance of a getting a battery top up on the way remains highly unlikely. Those who find a charging point en route will be able to take advantage of a 50% top up in just fifteen minutes, or take the advantage of a 75% top up that will take slightly less than half an hour. Those who don't have that luxury will need to plan their journeys very carefully and re-charge their batteries at home. A task that can take up to seven hours.

The Peugeot iOn, a mini-compact five door hatchback, 123 inches long, sixty inches wide and 56 inches high, is very distinctive in appearance with a dramatically sloping front for maximum aerodynamics and energy savings. The iOn, from the outside, looks like a fairly small hatchback which can carry a driver and three passengers, as well as tote a reasonable amount of cargo in its six cubic foot trunk, with the many batteries required to provide energy, stored under the floor.