- The Olinia Uno has a maximum range of 77 miles (125 kilometers) and a top speed of 31 mph (50 km/h).
- It was developed in Mexico and is designed to make the most of Mexico’s engineering talent, supply chain, and vehicle manufacturing.
- The car will go on sale in Mexico next summer.
Mexico has been electrifying its car market at a fairly quick rate. Partially, that’s because its less-stringent crash standards and warm relationship with China have seen its market fill up with reasonably-priced EVs. But as great as it is that Mexican drivers have their pick of the litter of imported Chinese models, that isn’t doing much for Mexico’s sizable production capacity and supply chain. Also, even though a new cheap Chinese EV could cost as little as $17,000 in Mexico, that’s still expensive for a country where the average wage is about $1,000 per month.
So Mexico is doing something about it. Meet the Olinia Uno, an EV developed with backing from the Mexican government. The vehicle was designed, developed, and will be made in Mexico, using as many Mexican parts as possible. Oh, and it’s only supposed to cost about $8,600. The vehicle was unveiled on Sunday at an event featuring Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum.
“Olinia is the project that marks a new chapter for Mexico: the step from assembling vehicles for the world to designing and building its own technology,” the company says on its website.
Photo by: Olinia
The Uno’s specifications are closer to what we would consider a neighborhood electric vehicle rather than a full-on car. There aren’t any airbags or A/C, and the 18-horsepower motor can only propel the car up to a top speed of 31 mph. Its 14.7 kWh lithium iron phosphate battery only provides a range of 77 miles.
This car isn’t designed to be an outright highway cruiser. It’s meant to make electric vehicle driving accessible to those who don’t have much, while also showing the world that Mexico can produce its own designs, rather than just making cars for other brands. It should be cheap to run too; on Olinia’s site, the brand claims that it will cost less than half to run per mile compared to a motorcycle taxi, and about a fifth of what it would take to run a typical sedan. There’s no fast charging, but the Uno can charge on a regular 220V three-pronged outlet in as little as four hours.
There Uno will come with some creature comforts. There are LED headlights, power front windows, power locks, a reverse camera, and a radio that has a Bluetooth connection (although there are only two speakers for the whole car). The biggest draw for the car may be the fact that it can carry six passengers or accommodate a wheelchair. That’s a big deal, especially for taxi cab operators, which this car’s design seems to have in mind.
Photo by: Olinia
The Olinia Uno won’t just be pushed onto Mexico’s market with no support either. There’s a large-scale plan to open 2,000 charging stations across Mexico, the Olinia project’s head said at the event on Sunday.
The Olinia Uno will go on sale in the summer of 2027, but it looks to be the start of a new big push by the country to come up with affordable EV solutions. I’m not sure if the Olinia Uno would be suitable for places outside of Mexico, but I’m excited to see what the country will come up with next.
Contact the author: kevin.williams@insideevs.com