Photo: Dartz
When Leonard Yankelovich learned about the Citroen Ami Cargo, he decided to challenge the French electric quadricycle with his FreZe Nikrob EV. The DARTZ MotorZ CEO saw a fun opportunity to show how capable his vehicle is compared to its competitors using another one of his companies: the Baltic Whisky Bank. The proposed task would be to carry a 225-liter whisky barrel, and the pictures above show that the FreZe Nikrob EV was up to the task.
If you are not yet aware of this electric vehicle, it is the improved European version of the Wuling Hongguang Mini EV, which you probably already know. That is the car that is beating Tesla in sales volume in China. DARTZ MotorZ brought the FreZe brand back to life and put a starting price of €9,999 on the Nikrob EV.
We asked Yankelovich if he already tried to do that with a Citroen Ami Cargo, but he didn’t. If he had tried doing so, he would probably have faced more difficulties than putting the barrel inside the FreZe Nikrob EV – which was already hard, according to the executive. The Ami Cargo has a payload of only 140 kg (308 pounds), and a full whisky barrel weighs 270 kg (595 pounds).
“The whisky barrel test was impressive and our FreZe EV passed it without taking out the front passenger seats. They were still available for two big guys. It also gave us the idea to offer Baltic Whisky Bank clients the option of an electric car. It would work like this: invest in the company and, after everything is settled, drive home with your barrel in your EV. But it's clear that the Ami has no space for a barrel. We wanted to test that with a Tesla, but no owners agreed.”
The FreZe Froggy would probably be easier to load and unload a whisky barrel. However, the convertible version of the Nikrob EV will cost way more: around €20,000, which will still make it the most affordable convertible vehicle for sale in Europe. As long as the whisky stays in the barrel until it arrives somewhere safe – where nobody will drive after drinking it – we’re cool with the concept and the challenge.
We asked Yankelovich if he already tried to do that with a Citroen Ami Cargo, but he didn’t. If he had tried doing so, he would probably have faced more difficulties than putting the barrel inside the FreZe Nikrob EV – which was already hard, according to the executive. The Ami Cargo has a payload of only 140 kg (308 pounds), and a full whisky barrel weighs 270 kg (595 pounds).
“The whisky barrel test was impressive and our FreZe EV passed it without taking out the front passenger seats. They were still available for two big guys. It also gave us the idea to offer Baltic Whisky Bank clients the option of an electric car. It would work like this: invest in the company and, after everything is settled, drive home with your barrel in your EV. But it's clear that the Ami has no space for a barrel. We wanted to test that with a Tesla, but no owners agreed.”
The FreZe Froggy would probably be easier to load and unload a whisky barrel. However, the convertible version of the Nikrob EV will cost way more: around €20,000, which will still make it the most affordable convertible vehicle for sale in Europe. As long as the whisky stays in the barrel until it arrives somewhere safe – where nobody will drive after drinking it – we’re cool with the concept and the challenge.
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