Today my Wife and I headed off to the Specialist Cars BMW dealership in Stevenage for a pre-booked test drive in the new BMW i3 electric plug-in.

We arrived to a professional welcome, and after a few minutes we were ready to drive. I had driven an i3 before, and so this was to convince my wife that electric cars work.

We took off like a rocket. The quiet and responsiveness of electric cars is uncanny, and the i3, as a lightweight 4 seater, is particularly nippy. We are used to automatics, but with petrol cars there is always a bit of a lag for automatics to kick in – not so for an electric. High torque delivered straight to the road makes for an exhilarating ride, and the low centre of mass from the underslung batteries gives marvellous handling.

The car is a little small for our family, so we shall look at alternatives, but I was delighted that, having driven an all-electric plug-in for the first time, my wife could clearly see that this was a real car which could really work and save us money. Next stop is the Nissan Leaf.