When saw this today I thought the owner was just having a joke with the green EV numberplate tag that immediately caught my eye.
But then I saw the 'Electric' decal on the side I thought it might still be a joke related to that. After all it was quite common for (especially French) cars in the 90s to have quirky trim levels; Wave/Surf/Excite/Elation/etc https://autoshite.com/topic/54842-ridiculous-trim-designations/). Even Fiat had a Fiat 500 'Diesel', which only came in Petrol.
But then on closer look, I couldn't see an exhaust and there was a awkwardly placed flap on the front wing, so I thought it was a passion project type EV conversion. The 106 chassis is really fun little go kart after all. And if someone had the money and the will, why not.
I figured that there might be some information about it online if that was the case. Certainly someone with that dedication would have to have a deep passion, and they might have documented or made a forum post about it.
Nah, it's actually a factory option. PSA apparently decided to offer a battery EV all the way back in 1996. https://www.car.info/en-se/peugeot/106/106-3-door-eletric-11153757/specs
I mean, with 15hp you'll be struggling to even worry the skin on your rice pudding.
Absolutely love seeing things like this.
It was probably a "compliance car" or something along those lines. Automakers have been building tiny batches of compliance cars for decades to fill a certain small niche. Usually to appease some government regulation or under threat of more strict rules. Years back Ford and Toyota (and others) built handfuls of electric early Focus and Rav4 to comply with Californian rules and there have been others throughout the years.
When you look at these early electric cars it really shows how far behind battery technology and motor design was. People love to come up with ridiculous conspiracies, but the fact remains that even in a small car 15 HP is atrocious and the range for that Peugeot was probably 50 miles, if that. And I'm sure Peugeot lost money on every one they sold. They were simply not viable 2ith the technology at the time.
Except that GM made the one electric car that was absolutely beloved.
GM probably lost tens of thousands of dollars (maybe even hundreds of thousands of dollars) on every EV1 they built. It was a great first effort to see what could have been built at the time, but it was never a viable product to sell.
GM's Chevy Bolt EV right now is much loved as well and it has specs that far, far exceeded anything the EV1 offered.
*had. RIP to a real one.