LIKING THE SOUND OF SILENCE (some text hidden) --NONE--

By Jonathan Crouch

Spanish e-mobility maker Silence brings us a more usable kind of quadricycle for city folk, the S04. Jonathan Crouch takes a look.

Ten Second Reviewword count: 45

The Silence S04 is a more usable kind of quadricycle for urban dwellers who don't want a car but need something like a car for personal urban transport. You'll pay quite a bit more than you would for obvious rivals, but you get more too.

Backgroundword count: 155

There must be a small but significant group of urban buyers wishing for something like the old smart EQ fortwo electric city car - which in many ways was the perfect electric town runabout. Quadricycles like the Citroen Ami and its close cousin the Fiat Topolino have since tried to revive that market, but those cars are too restricted in range and performance for many to be able to consider them. So here's a potentially better alternative, the Silence S04. It costs nearly twice as much as an Ami but goes more than twice as far on a single charge and has far more usable performance too, though it's still restricted by its quadricycle classification. Silence is a Spanish e-mobility company better known for its range of e-scooters, most recently the S01, which was re-badged and sold in other markets by SEAT. How does the Silence brand's first venture into cars stack up? Let's see.

Driving Experienceword count: 174

This is the fastest quadricycle model we've come across, but you shouldn't think of it as an alternative to the kind of motoring you'd be able to enjoy in a comparably-priced supermini. The S04 has two motors sending 22bhp to the rear wheels. Those motors are housed within the wheels (a first for a road 'car') and propel it to 30mph in 7.0 seconds and on to a top speed of 52mph. Which means that out of town, you won't have a queue of traffic behind you, as you would do in a comparable but far slower Citroen Ami. Another difference with the Ami is that with this Silence, you could conceivably head out of town because there'll usually be just enough battery charge to do so; combined range from the two removable 5.6kWh batteries is estimated at 92 miles. That figure requires permanent progress in the most frugal of the three provided drive modes - 'Eco'. The other two are 'City' and 'Sport'. There's regenerative braking too. And a super-short 3.5-metre turning circle.

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