BEN, the first electric “Mata-Velho”.

A satirical look at a car that is almost ready for the market…

Do you know what a Mata-Velho is? It’s a vehicle that old people without driving licences can use to travel around in amid the traffic in Portugal. I asked Lourenço Galvão from the PR agency H/Advisors in Lisbon whether or not you need a driving licence for the Mata-Velho, for which he manages the public relations. He couldn’t tell me for sure. He was also unable to answer my second question on the phone: how many kilometres can a customer travel with the new Mata-Velho BEN on just one single charge? And he was completely stumped by my third question: what kind of battery does the car have inside, a lithium-ion or a lithium-iron battery? I didn’t even dare ask any further questions, such as, for example, what kind of charging plug is needed to recharge the BEN’s batteries? These are all questions that drivers who know nothing about electric cars and stubbornly continue to drive around in their petrol-powered vehicles simply can’t answer. So, I’m estimating a maximum range of 75 km for the Mata-Velho BEN before it needs recharging. The Chinese competition will be laughing all the way to the bank at the first Portuguese Mata-Velho, known by the name of BEN, which is supposed to cost only 8,000 euros.

Watch out, China! You don’t need to worry, this so-called microcar, about the size of a 1960 German BMW Isetta, is very small and only truly innovative by local standards. And then it’s even called BEN. What on earth possessed the designers? At the end of the email that Lourenço Galvão is flooding journalists’ junk boxes with, it says: “We are happy to answer any further questions you may have.” Is this all simply free advertising – or just window dressing? They don’t want to invest any money in advertising, and they want journalists to write about it for free, which they are already doing: at SIC and SAPO, they’re all fighting over this unremarkable little car from northern Portugal. They can’t even offer a test drive to the ECO123. They want us to drive 650 km to Guimarães, where I can supposedly test drive the car. Ha, ha, ha.

ECO123 wanted to find out from those in charge how big a range this small electric car has, because range is everything. Without a large enough range, there’s no point in having such a car. The €8,000 investment doesn’t make any sense either if no one knows how many kilometres you can actually drive. You’d be better off investing in a Toyota AYGO or Renault Twingo E, or waiting a bit longer until the first VW ID.2 is delivered. The Chinese BYD is also available very cheaply. And all these cars come with warranties, garage repairs and services if something breaks down… The BEN, developed by the difficult-to-decipher CEiiA, Portugal’s second electric car (the first being the three-wheeled VEECO in 2013), received its European Union approval after a long and demanding process at IDIADA in Spain (another difficult-to-decipher word) and could theoretically now be sold and driven all around Europe. In practice, however, reality stands in the way.

According to the manufacturer’s somewhat incomplete press release, perhaps as many as 200 BEN vehicles could be produced in 2026. That’s precisely why we wanted to test the range, which is why we wanted to test drive the BEN in the Algarve. But, presumably, the range is too short, considering the distance to Guimarães, and people in Portugal don’t necessarily comprehend the harsh realities of the car market. The BEN is designed to be a small, affordable and sustainable electric car that can be used for commercial and delivery purposes. So, does it have a range of only 75 kilometres, or perhaps a bit more, or maybe a bit less? Just enough to travel to the nearest Pingo Doce or Continente supermarket and back? Oh really? And what does that mean in practice? What if the weather outside is colder than the climate change forecast?

Guimarães is now set to be the European Green Capital in 2026… Since when do cities build cars? And we at ECO123 begin to wonder: is BEN just a figurehead for advertising purposes?

“With BEN, Portugal is now a Europe-wide player and a developer of mobility schemes. “We created BEN as Europe’s answer to a new, inclusive social model that focuses on more accessible, smaller and more sustainable electric cars. BEN is thus in line with the ‘Small and Affordable e-car’ initiative launched by the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, with the aim of developing a car for Europe’s future,” explains Helena Silva, the Chief Administrative Officer and CTO of CeiiA. It’s best to keep things in perspective, however.

In Switzerland, they built a similar car last year: the Microlino 2.0. It has a range of at least 120 to 150 kilometres. BEN’s first development phase is now reaching its end with its official certification. It’s approved for three people (which doesn’t mean that three people can actually sit comfortably in the tiny car) and is available from €8,000, with a range of… Well, that’s the question we’ve been asking. And we’re still doing so… even at the end of this story. But we’re guessing it’s only good for short trips around town, such as travelling to the nearest shopping mall. And back? But Lourenço Galvão isn’t entirely sure either, because he doesn’t drive a BEN yet, and they’re not even available for purchase, since they’re only making 200 of them a year, if that. And anyway, King Sebastião disappeared as well into the fog and was never seen again…