Welcome to The Late Brake Show Ora Cat review. This new £22k EV could be Britain’s (Europe’s?) cheapest electric car. This is the new affordable EV that you’ve probably never heard of, unless you live in China. New Chinese brand Ora exclusively make ground-up EVs and they are part of the huge GWM (Great Wall Motors) group. Jonny’s walk-around was as detailed as we could make without driving the Cat.

In China cats are signs of good luck. Which is weird, given how rare and spellbinding Pangolins are. Anyway, it will be fascinating to see how an unknown brand new car company tries to break into the British and European EV market. This is the Ora Cat, known as the Good Cat in its native country.

Thanks for stopping by The Late Brake Show.

The new car launch playlist is proudly supported by Continental Tyres
https://www.continental-tyres.co.uk/car
Youtube: @Continental Tyres TV
Twitter: @contiuk
Facebook: @ContinentalTyresUK
Instagram: @continental_tyres

The stand out specs here are that it will start at £25k without any government incentive discount, it will have a range of 209 miles to 261 miles (depending on whether you choose the 48kWh or 63kWh battery pack) and it will be able to CCS rapid charge up to 80Kw as standard. There’s also 3-phase 11kW as standand, heated massage seats as standard and wireless Apple Carplay and Android thingy.

Jonny thinks the Cat has something fascinating about it. We don’t get completely new car brands entering the market often, so it’s good to see a 5yr warranty (8yr for the batteries) Chinese car turning up for 2022 delivery in Europe, and taking the fight to Vauxhall, Renault, Peugeot, MG (who are Chinese, remember) and VW.

What do you think of the styling? There’s plenty of Mini One, Porsche, later VW Beetle and (inside at least) current Fiat 500 going on. The Chinese are good at emulating existing designs (like the Japanese did in order to conquer western markets) but this seems to blend old and new, with a funky outcome. Performance will be average for class – 0-62 in 8.5 secs from the FWD 171ps 250nm front motor and 100mph top end.

Jonny hopes the spec list allows for retro wheels and colour palette. With the UK gov discount for plug-in cars this will start at £22,500. The Nissan Leaf wishes it looked this interesting.

For more info on the Cat head to their UK site:
https://uk.ora-eu.com/

Ora Cat
DIMENSIONS
Length – 4235mm
Width – 1825mm
Height – 1596mm
Wheelbase – 2650mm

Vs Rivals:
MG ZS = 79mm longer
Leaf = 255mm longer
Zoe = 148mm shorter
ID.3 = 26mm longer
Corsa e = 175mm shorter

WEIGHT
Cat 1510kg

Vs Rivals:
MG ZS -8kg
Leaf 40kWh +70kg
Zoe 52Kwh -8kg
ID.3 +271kg
Corsa e +20kg

Battery capacity options
48kWh or 63kWh

Range (WLTP combined)
209 miles / 336km (48kWh)
261 miles / 420km (63kWh)

Charging
CCS DC rapid up to 80kW
3-phase 11kW AC
6.6kW single phase AC
40 mins 10-80% (48kWh)
50 mins 10-80% (63kWh)

Performance
0 – 30mph / 50kph = 3.8 secs
0 – 62mph / 100kph = 8.5 secs
Top speed = 100mph / 160kph

Motor
126kW / 171PS front mounted, FWD
Torque = 250nm

Boot space (seats down)
Cat – 228 Litres

Rivals:
Corsa – 267L
e-208 – 311L
Zoe – 338L
e-C4 – 380L
ID.3 – 385L
Leaf – 435L

Safety
6 airbags, ESP, automatic e-call crash and breakdown assistance.
Euro N-Cap TBC.

Chipset
Qualcomm Snapdragon 8155 for intelligent cockpit /
Intel Mobileye for intelligent driving

Cameras and sensors
4 x cameras for 360-degree view + 1 front high perception cam for level 2.5 autonomous driving
5mm wave radar and 12 ultrasonic radars

Ora Cat – the new affordable EV you’ve never heard of
Ora Cat review: could this new Chinese EV be the UK’s best value electric car?
Ora Cat review: why this new Chinese EV could be the best value electric car

****************
Jonny Smith
Creative content maker, car presenter & car pervert for hire since ’98
Website: http://www.carpervert.com
Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/jonnycarpervert
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/carpervert

CHAPTERS
0:00 Intro
0:39 Supported by Continental Tyres
1:05 Who is ORA?
1:34 Orders open Dec 2021
1:58 Other ORA models
2:40 WEY brand
3:12 Geely owns Polestar, Volvo, LEVC
3:25 NIO and XPENG brands coming
4:32 Design – front end
6:05 Ioniq 5
6:15 Dimensions
6:35 Size Vs rivals
7:20 Design – side profile
7:53 Price
8:57 Design – rear
9:42 Knight Rider lights
10:22 Rivals?
10:55 Boot space
11:57 Range and charging specs
12:20 Two battery options
12:55 Range
13:12 Motor specs
13:27 Performance specs
13:45 GWM battery tech
14:00 Ground up EV
14:20 Cabin and interior
15:12 Instrument panel
16:30 Tech onboard
17:00 Massaging seats as standard!
17:18 Instrument panel continued
18:35 Warranty
18:48 Tech as standard
19:36 Rear seats
21:28 Cat GT model
21:40 GT design
22:20 GT interior
24:14 Verdict
24:33 What do you think?

#thelatebrakeshow #cheapestev #2022oracat #evreview

source

34 thoughts on “Ora Cat review: Britain's cheapest new EV”

  5. Tired of upscale cross overs and big buck show pieces…
    When will any Cat, I-GO, or ANY small, cheap car, hit the US?
    Lets see an EV for the rest of us :o)

  15. Gamechanger! Actually the Great Wall 4×4 pickups were very good,as they were sold officially in the U.K. They can still be seen travelling the length and breadth of the country.

  16. The Cat just got 5 stars from the EuroNCAP. Compliments to the (Chinese) chef. Let's not forget that the Fiat 500e got only 4 stars last year, despite being the darling of the automotive-journalism microcosm. Well, except AutoEV, who are the only honest enough to say clearly that the Honda e is better. By the way, what about you, Mr Smith ? Did you tell us which one you prefer?

    Anyway, who would have thought that we might have to ask ourselves this question so soon : "I haven't got enough cash for the Japanese one. Should I consider the Chinese one?"

  17. If they sold this in the US and didn't let on it was from a Chinese brand I think it would sell well I for one want one right now I live all the safety tech it has as standard

  22. The Ora Cat costs about £14,000 in China but off course in the UK we have to pay £25,000 !! Presumably it was shipped here via Venus!!

  25. The new Balet Cat for ladies and Funky Cat for 50s luxury are also exciting. I really wish we can get these in US instead of the everybody has one pricy Tesla 3.

Comments are closed.