Acceleration (via a thumb throttle) feels instant, but there’s also decent progression and an awful lot of regenerative braking which makes it easy to control your speed. So easy in fact, that the conventional brakes aren’t really needed. Good thing too, because the hand-operated hydraulic disk setup is not terribly effective when you’re tackling the kind of slopes the Swincar is capable of.
Ultimately it’s this level of capability that defines the E-Spider; it really can go through and over obstacles that you just don’t expect. Swincar says that it can ultimately ascend and descend hills up to 70 degrees, as well as drive along the side of a 50-degree slope. Riding in the vehicle this all feels remarkably calm and comfortable, not least when you see what the Swincar looks like from the outside. This is due to the way its four articulated suspension arms work completely independent of one another and are fixed to the chassis well above the driver’s centre of mass so that you dangle in the cockpit at what is always a relatively level angle regardless of what the wheels are doing. Four-wheel-steering provides a good turning circle but requires strong arms.
The 4kWh lithium-ion battery gives a range of about four hours between two-hour recharges. It is mounted in the floor and sends power to four 1kW hub-mounted brushless electric motors, giving the E-Spider permanent four-wheel drive. What’s more, because the suspension arms allow each wheel to always be in contact with the ground you can get to and through all sorts of terrain.
Admittedly, a quad bike will do much of this for a significantly lower price than the £13,495 Pocket Classics is charging for a Swincar, but with vehicles like this, it’s as much about the experience as it is ultimate capability. And sitting in that bucket seat, tackling the ruts and troughs of the course without so much as a jolt or a bump felt through my body and all in near silence, it’s hard not to conclude that the experience here is indeed unique.