Morgan unleashes the ultimate three-pin plug-in
Bonkers three-wheeled EV3 fuses retro styling with electrifying performance
Did you steal that from Wallace and Gromit?
Nice try, but you’ll find that the cheese-loving inventor and his unreasonably wise canine sidekick actually travelled around in a motorbike and sidecar. This is an all-electric three-wheeler, and unlike the plasticine people you just mentioned, it’s very real.
Really? What is it?
It’s a futuristic mash-up of the endearingly retro Morgan 3 Wheeler, but rather than power coming from a front-mounted S&S V-Twin motorcycle engine, it’s now provided by an environmentally friendly electric motor and lithium-ion batteries.
It doesn’t look very comfortable…
No, the petrol-powered 3 Wheeler is noisy, unforgiving and, thanks to a lack of roof and windscreen, extremely exposed to the elements. In fact, you have to be clinically insane to want to do any sort of distance in one. But hey, at least the 3EV will be nice and quiet.
Isn’t the hell-raising soundtrack and bonkers drive sort of the point?
Hell yeah! The turret gun-style tailpipes that run along the flanks of the current 3 Wheeler produce a fantastic note and never fail to have heads swivelling when it cruises through a sleepy village. However, EVs are irritatingly quiet, but that’s the price you pay for planet-saving motoring.
Does that mean it’ll be slow, too?
Hopefully not, as the micro machine weighs just 450kg and is powered by a 75kW electric motor. That’s around 100bhp at the rear wheel, which is 20bhp more than its petrol-slurping sibling. Expect neck-snapping acceleration, bags of tarmac-shredding torque and plenty of perplexed looks when you whizz past.
Hilarious, I need to see that…
Get yourself down to the Goodwood Festival of Speed this weekend. It will be there, looking like steam punk masterpiece. Or a prop from Wallace and Gromit, if you prefer.
Leon Poultney
Freelance Automotive and Tech Writer 
