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It’s been nearly a decade. Can we have the EV3 now? Yes, I actually want an electric trike, and if you don’t after seeing this gem, you have no motoring soul. Back in 2015, highly regarded British car and trike maker Morgan promised a fully hybridized range by 2019, and at the Geneva Motor Show that year went a step further with this fully electric version of its three-wheeler, called the EV3.
Even Morgan won’t get away without mudguards, but it’s nice to dream. Photo: Morgan
Instead of the V-Twin motor attached to the front of the regular three-wheeler, the EV3 was powered by a 46kW electric motor attached to the rear wheel. That’s not a lot of power, but having one less wheel than an ordinary car helped keep its weight down to less than 500 kg. That relatively light weight also meant the EV3 could hit 100 km/h in 9 seconds and offer a 240 km range. The trike’s low kerb weight only needed a 20 kW/h liquid cooled battery to achieve these figures, as opposed to the minimum 75 kW/h battery size that Tesla needed to power a full sized, heavy family sedan.
The profile of the EV3 is, no doubt deliberately, very low. Photo: Morgan
As is traditional for Morgan, the EV3 was to be built around an ash wood frame. The EV3’s body is significantly more modern than that frame. The car’s hood, tonneau cover and side pods are all made of carbon fibre, while the rest of the body panels are shaped out of aluminum. Also traditional in a weird kind of way is the asymmetrical layout of the three headlamps, referencing endurance race motorcycles. Together with the impressive if perhaps slightly disturbing brass cooling fins for the battery, they give the EV a unique and unmistakable face. This, I thought at the time, was probably the first electric vehicle that I would cheerfully add to my garage.
It might look like something out of an SF film, but a Morgan out of an SF film. Photo: Morgan
The unique side pods on the flanks of the smoothly seductive body plus an interior that combines a classic layout with beautiful materials mean that the whole EV3 is a well thought out and eminently desirable new model for the Morgan range. That’s rare praise for any first generation electric vehicle.
Morgan described the vehicle shown in Geneva as a “final pre-production phase” car. Head of Design John Wells described what it was like to drive: “You just go as fast as you dare, and you can still slide it and donut it around like you can the normal 3-wheeler! The wind and the motor whirring, it’s a real experience. It sounds like a spaceship.”
The instruments are terribly traditional and beautiful. Photo: Morgan
This particular spaceship was expected to go into production later in 2016, and would be “priced comparably to the petrol 3 Wheeler”. This would have made it an expensive buzzy vehicle indeed in Australia at A$90,000 or more. I had to accept, much as I hated it, that it would not be gracing my garage unless I started getting paid what I deserve, which never happened. Surprise, surprise.
I presume that the filler cap behind the cockpit is for battery coolant. Photo: Morgan
But then it developed that the EV3 would not be gracing anyone’s garage, at least for quite a while. A few months after that Geneva Motor Show in 2016, Morgan later announced it was planning to sell the first 19 cars – dubbed the ‘1909 Edition’ – through London department store Selfridges for £52,500 each.
It looks as if final drive is by chain. Rear lights are LED. Photo: Morgan
Then everything went quiet until the end of 2017, when Morgan announced a technical partnership with Frazer-Nash Energy that would provide proven battery, motor and charging tech for the EV3. The word was now that the EV3 would have “comparable performance to its petrol sibling” and would feature a 21 kWh battery. The motor would produce a peak of 56 hp, and the projected range had slipped to 190 km. Production was now due to start in 2018 at Morgan’s Pickersleigh Road factory in Worcestershire… but the agreement between the two companies faltered due to supply issues. The project was put on hold indefinitely.
Three headlights form a unique pattern as a reminder of endurance racing. Photo: Morgan
“Electrification is nice to have,” Morgan CEO Steve Morris said in 2019 after Italian/UK financier Investindustrial had made a sizable investment in the company, raising hopes of the EV3’s revival, “but we need the right partner.” Electric propulsion has gone ahead in the proverbial leaps and bounds since then and Investindustrial has been involved with both Ducati and Aston Martin. Is there no chance of a bit of cross-fertilisation? I mean, I could always sell the house…
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