The R ER6 Offers A 620km Range For Less Than 25,000 USD

What is it?

The R ER6 is the first car from the new, stand-alone R brand, which has been broken off from fellow SAIC marque Roewe, and aims to make more upmarket electric cars. SAIC is also the Chinese company behind the MG brand in Europe.

Sleek and striking

The ER6 is far more visually striking than its cousins from Roewe, with a steeply raked bonnet and largely sealed grille. This, along with more aerodynamic alloy wheels, reduces the drag coefficient to 0.24, helping give the car its impressive 620km range on the NEDC cycle.

The Roewe shield badges, themselves based off the old Rover Viking ship logo, are swapped out for a modern, minimalist R rendering. The side profile is largely a carryover from the original car and the back, apart from the badge, has been given minimal attention.

Superior material quality

Only once inside do you fully appreciate one of the biggest changes to the car, that glass roof – all three metres squared of it. For rear passengers that means an unhindered expanse stretching from just above the front seats all the way down to the boot. They do, however, pay with headspace.

As mentioned, the R is meant to be more upmarket, and certainly the materials are far superior to the hard feeling plastics of the Roewe i6. Colour wise, the starry blue trim is not going to be to everyone’s taste, though. Coming out of the relatively high centre console is the 14.3-inch curved infotainment screen, which SAIC bill as 2.5D. While there are plenty of applications, they don’t seem particularly useful (Karaoke, anyone?), and navigability could definitely be improved.

In front, the electrically adjustable driver’s seat is always relatively high, something potential CUV buyers may appreciate, but that feels out of place in this small sedan. Out back, while the nearly flat rear floor makes things easier for the middle passenger, there is no headrest, and so it is really only usable by adults on shorter journeys. Surprisingly legroom is also not that generous. Boot space on the other hand is certainly enough for a couple of large cases.

Not a Tesla Model 3 competitor

SAIC claim the ER6 sits on a new EV platform and has no relationship with the petrol Roewe i6 and plugin hybrid ei6 which went on sale in 2017. The wheelbase and widths of the cars are, however, exactly the same.

Now let’s get this out of the way early, the ER6 is not a Tesla Model 3 competitor. It might be an attempt at a more upmarket model to try to shift away from the fleet user image of Roewe, but the ER6 is optimised for range rather than outright speed.

As a result, you can’t expect blistering performance. The ER6 does 0-100 km/h in 8.3 seconds, not Tesla speeds, but good enough to shame all but hot hatch petrol cars of a similar size. There are three driving modes Eco, Comfort, and Sport. For once, these seem to make a genuine difference in feel. There is even a stiffening of the steering when you go from Comfort to Sport. Suspension is on the soft side, and handling, while acceptable, is not particularly dynamic.

There are three levels of energy capture from the KERS with energy regeneration on the third level largely allowing one pedal driving. SAIC claim a very frugal 12.2kWh usage per 100km. Factor in the low drag coefficient and a 69.9kWh battery pack and it is little surprise the car has such a good range - in fact one of the best currently on sale in China. The battery uses NCM523 chemistry and SAIC say you can add 200km of range in as little as fifteen minutes – about the time taken to drink a coffee. Surprisingly, the car also only weighs in at just over 300kg heavier than the 1.5 turbo i6.

The top of the range models comes with a suite of ADAS capabilities, such as adaptive cruise control and lane keep assist. These come courtesy of three millimetre-wave radars, four ultrasonic radars and six cameras. One interesting feature is that the instrument panel has an AR function, which shows a video of the road ahead with things like navigation cues superimposed.

Takeaway

Is this car ready for Europe? With a few minor tweaks, yes. Is this car actually coming to Europe? Well, the recently launched European MG 5 is in fact simply a rebadged Roewe Ei5. The ER6 is a major step up from the MG 5 and it could well come to Europe as an MG 6. Prices in China range from around 25,500 to 31,500 USD. As an everyday electric car, it has a lot to offer, and in Europe there is currently very few competitors, particularly when it comes to sedans of this size.