Although it may be a touch disappointing to some to observe how long it’s taking Europeans to fully embrace electric cars – not least, you suspect, the car makers who’ve nursed them through their early ‘problem’ years – it’s not a hurdle that appears to be preventing the breed from improving.
Over the past 18 months, we’ve seen battery capacity and associated cruising range improve significantly on the Renault Zoe (by 86%) and Volkswagen e-Golf (48%), while the Nissan Leaf (the new version of which will be road tested soon) has undergone a 66% increase in battery capacity in just three years.
nissan Before the end of the decade, those cars will be joined in UK showrooms by the new VW ID all-electric hatchback and customers in mainland Europe can buy the Opel Ampera-e, both of which promise to be nearly 250-mile prospects.
If those newbies really are what they’re purported to be, for the fledgling EV hatchback class to hit that mark, having effectively started with the circa-80-mile original Nissan Leaf in 2010, that clearly isn’t progress to be sniffed at.
