Mobilize Duo review: should we all be driving one of these?
Love it or hate it, the electric quadricycle market is growing.
In Europe, it has increased two-fold in three years, and that speed isn't likely to tail off soon. New names and faces have made their appearance, including the Citroen Ami, Micro Microlino, Luvly 0, and now the Mobilize Duo.
Developed and built by Renault's urban mobility brand, this new electric quadricycle shares around 10% of its parts with the fabled Renault Twizy, a car which we loved for its endearing charm.
The Duo looks set to continue that trend by taking the Twizy's fundamental principles and bringing them up to the standards of the day, with big-car equipment levels, a 100% increase in electric range, a design overhaul and - helpfully - windows.
Sitting inside, you’re immediately taken by the central-mounted driving position and single rear seat - both of which are familiar from the Twizy. Aside from this, all else is new.
Said by Mobilize to be “as simple to use as a smartphone”, the Duo's interior is deliberately basic, both from the perspectives of design and functionality. Mobilize wants it to appeal to private customers and shared mobility, fleet-based operators like ZipCar or Enterprise, which means it has to stand up to accommodating multiple users over short periods.
Crucially, it’s very easy to use. There are just eight buttons on the dashboard itself, and instead of a screen you just mount your smartphone to a holster. The driving position is quite high, which makes for decent visibility, but that funky exterior has made for a large A-pillar that creates more of a blind spot than you would like.
The interior plastics are predictably cheap, but they're not brittle and will be easy to wipe clean. The dashboard-mounted rocker switches are entirely interchangeable and the splash of orange makes it a more interesting place to sit than it otherwise would be. What’s more, there’s a handy plughole in the driver’s footwell, should the vehicle ever need to be cleaned out.
According to Renault, there is 300 litres of storage on offer, which is nearly ten times more than the Twizy and makes it a far more practical solution than a big scooter. Usefully, there is enough room either side of the driver’s seat for two suitcases.
That design extends to Lamborghini-style scissor doors for tight parking spots, square headlights, a wheel-at-each-corner stance, and bumpers carved from a single piece of plastic. To our eyes, it looks like a modernised Twizy, but we will let you make your own mind up about the way it looks.
One thing that can’t be disputed is its focus on sustainability. Its front and rear bumpers are carved from one piece of plastic, and the same indicator piece has been used around its exterior, which means the Duo uses five times fewer parts than a conventional car. Elsewhere, 40% of its weight comprises reused materials and it's claimed to be 95% recyclable at the end of its service life. Overall, this means that the Duo emits one third of the greenhouse gas emissions of a typical A-segment city car over its lifetime.
But this attention to sustainability hasn't come at the expense of material rigidity. Built around a lightweight steel frame wrapped with plastic panels, Mobilize says that it is the safest car in its class, with crumple zones front and rear, all-round disc brakes, and a three-point seatbelt for the driver - who sits in a central position - and passenger. It is also the only quadricycle on the market to come with an airbag.
Two versions of the Duo are available, each homologated to meet L6e and L7e quadricycle regulations depending on their weight, power output and top speed. The L6e variant, called Duo 80 Evo, has a top speed of 28mph and 8bhp. The L7e variant - Duo 80 Pro - can be boosted up to 21bhp, with a top speed of 50mph.
Directly beneath the driver's seat of both versions is a 10.3kWh nickel-manganese cobalt battery pack, which shuffles current, via a power inverter, to a rear-mounted electric motor. The battery yields a range of up to 100 miles on the WMTC (World Motorcycle Test Cycle) regimen used for quadricycles. In winter conditions, however, Renault said this should translate to around 62 miles.
The way in which the powertrain has been calibrated means it has enough performance for most situations - but it has very obviously been devised to encourage efficient driving. It gives you a kick of initial acceleration before dulling the response from the motor - useful for low-speed manoeuvres and negotiating traffic.
Under hard acceleration, it is composed and quite smooth, and while the rear-mounted motor can get noisy, it doesn’t get too distracting. However, at speeds below 40mph, road and wind noise is very pronounced, which can become tiresome after a while.
The short wheelbase and 13in alloys mean that it is very easy to place on the road, but the trade-off is that the ride feels quite firm, especially when going over deep potholes or cobbled streets. In every other respect it feels well controlled, with a quality of ride that matches the Ami.
The steering itself could be more progressive and intuitive. Initially, it is responsive, but as you begin to explore more of the lock, it starts to get uncomfortably heavy, which could become a slight chore in tight streets.
Despite this and its poor rolling refinement, the Duo has raised the standards of what we’ve come to expect from quadricycles. A decent range, lots of kit, and a very competitive price means it has potential to become the market’s default choice.
