Original subtitles

Sales of electric cars are soaring.

CAR HORN

By 2035, the only new cars we'll be able to buy in the UK

are fully electric ones.

And, as many manufacturers make the switch to ditch the gas,

we have never been more spoilt for choice.

But with so many EVs to choose from, which one is right for you?

I'm going to be looking at some of the best electric cars out there.

And those that are on the way.

I'll be putting them to the test on Britain's roads.

Well, most of the time.

Oh, my goodness.

This is unreal!

So whether it's speed and luxury you're after...

Oh, my...!

BLEEP.

Oh, my God!

..or simply an electric car to fit all the family...

..I'll be putting foot to throttle...

..and charger to socket to put them to the test.

I'm Alexis Conran and this is the World's Best Electric Cars.

Throughout the 20th century, electric cars, or EVs,

weren't exactly our go-to choice.

Short range, low top speed, high cost -

they trailed behind the engines and exhaust fumes

that outnumbered them.

But those days are over.

These days, some new electric cars are frighteningly fast.

Cars like the Kia EV6 GT, which has 577 brake horsepower.

The Audi RS e-tron GT with 637.

And then this monster, which has 750.

This is the Porsche Taycan Turbo S.

It is incredibly fast, very expensive and fully electric.

The Taycan will set you back around £140,000.

Now, of course, first impressions are always going to be

a bit jaw dropping with any car like this.

It just screams speed.

It's low to the ground, it's sleek,

every single detail has got something to focus your eye on.

You can fit four people in this car.

It's obviously not the most roomy

but I don't think you'd be buying it for the school run.

Let's take a look inside.

If anything, electric cars have propelled

car manufacturers forward.

I think car manufacturers are excited about e cars

and even Porsche, that's been known for the gas guzzlers, the 911s,

those classic sporty cars,

I can feel a sense of joy being in here.

It's new and it's exciting.

Its torque, which dictates acceleration speed,

has got 1,000 newton metre capability.

I have no idea what that means but apparently it's fast.

Only one way to find out.

Now, I am not a racing driver,

but what I can immediately feel is that I have a lot of power.

There's an enormous amount of grip right now

going through the corners here

and it's really, really comfortable.

Now, this is a normal mode.

You also get a range mode, which extends your battery life.

This is quite something.

I mean, the luxury, the speed, the performance.

Porsche Taycan, it's one of the first EVs that has come to market

that has really proven that electric cars

can be absolutely brilliant fun to drive.

It's a Porsche and it drives just as well as you would expect

a Porsche to drive, despite the fact that it's an electric vehicle.

It's right up there with plenty of other petrol counterparts

in terms of how much fun it offers.

But with classic motor companies like Porsche

now making the switch to electric, how do their EVs

compare to their legendary petrol equivalents?

To find out, an old school pedal-to-the-metal race

with the help of race driver Nathan Wright

and a Porsche 911 Carrera 4 GTS.

Alexis.

Hello.

How are you doing? Nathan, really good to meet you.

Nice to meet you, too.

Right, here's the question.

Obviously, we're on a test track, obviously, you're a race driver,

obviously, we've got two cars, obviously, we're going to have

a drag race of 0 to 60, but here's the thing,

I have never done that.

I've only driven this car about an hour.

Are you telling me really that a novice driver,

a complete starter, can actually have a chance of beating you,

a professional driver,

in possibly one of the most high performance sort of sports cars

that Porsche make? I would say yes, I would say yes,

because you step in, you put it in drive, you squeeze the pedal

and EVs just fly away.

There's no gears, there's no clutch, there's traction control,

there's ESP - there's stability. Everything is there for you.

A grandma can get in and drive to the shops, get her newspaper...

Hang on. You're saying now a grandma can do it?

I mean, come on, Nathan, I can take some abuse, but...

So, how is this going to work?

We're going to both start at the same starting point, side by side,

and what do we do, just floor it? Literally. Literally.

I'm going to be trying out the Taycan's launch control,

which assists with accelerating fast from a complete standstill.

And I've heard it can feel a bit extreme.

Well, I'm a bit nervous, I won't lie to you, I'm a bit nervous,

but shall we do it? Yeah. I think you'll love it as well. OK.

You'll be the first one to Sainsbury's, that's for sure.

RADIO: Launch mode selected? OK? Launch mode engaged.

Three, two, one, go!

Oh, my...!

BLEEP.

Oh, my God!

Oh, my... I thought I was going to pass out there.

NATHAN LAUGHS These things are insane.

Are you all OK?

I seriously got scared. NATHAN LAUGHS

That was totally ridiculous. It was savage.

I think I've done a wee-wee.

Porsche make lovely Porsche designer underwear, you know.

What an extraordinary machine.

Pure electric exhilaration and more than a match

for the petrol 911, with 0 to 60 in less than three seconds.

I think I need a lie down.

If it's this much fun driving the fast electric cars,

I can't wait to see what the others can do.

Coming up, I put two family cars through their paces.

I'm liking this car. I'm liking it a lot.

And I devise an unusual side hustle.

There's nothing to see here.

Two grown men sitting in a car park getting massaged by a Mercedes.

I'm on the hunt for some of the world's best electric cars.

The electric car market is booming right now,

with a vast array of models of all different sizes.

But for those of us with kids, we know all too well

the most important things we need in a car -

storage, space and convenience.

So, of course, I need to check out the family car.

Top choices from classic family car stalwarts include

the Ford Mustang Mach-E and the VW ID.4,

which both come with the day-to-day reassurance

of a five-star safety Euro NCAP rating

and sizeable boots with over 500 litre capacity.

But I'm going to try out two other major contenders.

You can't make a show about electric cars without featuring Teslas.

Now, this is their latest offering. It's the Tesla Model Y.

Essentially, it's a Model 3 that's taller, longer, wider and bigger.

Tesla's Model 3 was Britain's best-selling electric car in 2021.

But how does their Model Y shape up?

Well, if you're new to Teslas, then it does feel very, very different.

Everything looks different. It's incredibly minimalist.

You've got this 15-inch landscape screen

and everything goes through that screen.

Anything you want to do - you want to adjust the wing mirrors,

you have to do it through the screen.

If you're looking for a speedometer, forget it.

There isn't anything there. There's no heads up display, nothing.

Your speed is indicated right here.

The glovebox opens through the screen.

Everything goes through here.

There's a lot of clever design everywhere in this car

and the features that are packed in the system are incredible.

Of course, you can wirelessly charge your mobile phones,

but all this comes with a price tag of around £60,000, give or take.

In the back, there is plenty of room,

with the luxury touch of reclinable back seats.

Boot space is also not in short supply.

With the seats down, Tesla says you can even fit

a double mattress in it.

I mean...look at that.

That is huge!

It is massive in here. It's crazy.

And, of course, you've got this lovely glass roof.

There's a panoramic glass roof.

It's a really nice place to be.

But I know what you're thinking -

enough about the aesthetics, how does it drive?

Driving the Tesla is very, very comfortable.

It's very easy.

The fact that you don't have anything in front of you

makes it feel like you're just focusing on the driving.

There's no dials, there's nothing to distract your attention.

So far so good with just me in it.

But truly testing a family car requires a much fuller load,

so we need a family, right?

And all their everyday stuff.

Well, that's a little too literal for our tastes,

so we went for... MUSIC

..a stranded brass band.

And all their kit, naturally.

Oh, look at their little faces as they helplessly wait for a ride.

Hello.

Hello. Hello.

Are you a band in need of rescue?

That is us. Your chariot awaits.

Do we think it's all going to fit in there?

That's a lot of kit to stow.

And even a tuba for good measure.

But with the Model Y's 850-litre capacity boot

and a froot or a frunk, otherwise known as a front boot,

we won't be short of storage here.

There's also an epic sound system.

TRUMPET PLAYS And, no, he's not it.

It's a bit of a squeeze in the back

but, then again, they aren't exactly kids.

There's still ample legroom and, despite the added cargo,

there's no sign of struggling up hills.

Where are we going? Where do you need to be dropped off?

Moor House.

I don't know that.

With a range of 330 miles,

though it can cope with a few of my wrong turns and diversions.

And with passengers successfully dropped off...

..I'm getting pretty comfortable.

I have to say, the more I drive the Tesla Model Y,

the more I am impressed with it as a family car.

We have so much space that we don't know what to do with here

but it's also really practical.

I'm liking this car. I'm liking it a lot.

But, as we telly folks often say, other brands are also available,

and I want to check out one family car

that is a lot lighter on the bank balance than a Tesla.

The Skoda Enyaq is one of those cars that just completely

changes your perceptions of a car brand.

So the Skoda Enyaq is great in terms of

particularly the interior.

The exterior is a bit Marmite but the interior is great.

They've got a really big screen, the technology works very well.

It's got the Skoda badge, which might put some people off,

but I've got to tell you, Skodas these days are brilliant

and try it before you decide not to go for one.

The Skoda Enyaq iV starts at around £40,000.

That's over £10,000 cheaper than the Tesla Model Y.

I have to say, first impressions, this is a really good looking car.

I really like the design.

It looks sporty but it also sort of has that roomy feel to it.

Now, this particular model is the 80x Sportline.

It retails at around £46,000

with all the extra add-ons it's got on here.

The Enyaq's interior ticks a lot of boxes for me.

It's a very nice sporty steering wheel - heated,

the seats are heated

and you've got a 13-inch screen in front of you.

Again, very easy to use.

This feels like a car that's...

..not a million miles away from what you're used to.

Unlike the Tesla, which is like a whole different planet

when you sit inside it.

What about the all-important storage?

This is a lot of space.

There's 585 litres capacity here in the boot.

Now, it's not as much space as the Tesla Model Y

but this is enough space for a family car.

Now, also, remember that this car can tow.

This is pretty cool - you just pull the button here...

..and out pops your towbar. There we go.

That's really nice, nicely thought out, good design.

Time to take it on the road.

No family car is complete without 2.4 kids sat in the back.

Or in our case, three stand-ins from our crew,

which essentially amounts to the same thing.

I'm picking up my makeshift family from footy practice

along with their giant heap of bags.

Hello.

Hello. Here's your ride.

Ola.

I'll put this in the back.

Let's see how much we can fit in.

No, there's no automatic. You're going to have to...

That is pretty impressive.

There's a lot of stuff in there.

At the back.

Car comfortably loaded, it's time for me to unleash

some embarrassing dad jokes.

What do you call a frog that's broken down?

A towed.

Tough crowd.

I think they're taking this acting gig a bit too seriously.

This is a bit more traditional to drive.

I mean, everything is where you would expect it.

It's a comfortable driving position.

It feels sort of quite racy in comparison to the Tesla.

It feels a bit more...

..that you're in a cockpit

rather than a dentist's waiting room with a nice screen.

Grateful kids dropped off, so which family car wins the day?

The Skoda Enyaq iV has a range of around 300 miles -

not as high as the Tesla.

So with that and the extra storage in mind,

for me, it's the Tesla that wins out.

But I'd say you get everything you need from the cheaper Enyaq.

Of course, there are plenty of other family cars

hitting the market soon you can consider.

So that's the family sorted. Now it's time to splash the cash.

And if you're after some style and indulgence,

there are some great luxury models on the market.

On the more affordable end, the Audi e-tron GT

and the BMW iX xDrive 40 luxury crossovers

can still take all your kids' muddy kit bags.

If that doesn't give you heart palpitations,

given the starting prices are over 70 grand.

But what if money is no object?

Now, this is a top contender.

The Mercedes-AMG EQS 53 4MATIC Night Edition.

I know, it's a mouthful, but look at it.

It is a beautiful car.

At over £150,000, it's certainly a premium price,

but offers a whopping 658 horsepower

plus a 350 mile range.

You think it's beautiful on the outside,

wait till you see the inside.

Oh.

One of the first things you're going to notice when you sit

in this car is the Hyperscreen.

The entire front dash of the car

is three separate screens

but all under this one glass panel.

It is quite spectacular.

It's got facial recognition, fingerprint ID,

so it recognises who's driving it and you can set up your own profile.

So, when I turn it on, it's going to put the steering wheel and the seat

at exactly the right position where I've set it before.

It's recognized me, it says, "Scan your finger"...

There I am. I'm here.

But my favourite feature for the ultimate VIP driver experience

has got to be the Integrated Smart Assistant,

taking away the need to even lift a finger.

Open roof blinds.

CAR: I'm sorry, can you say that again, please?

Open roof blinds, please.

I'm opening the roller sunblind on the sliding sunroof.

I obviously didn't say please.

They're quite strict, Mercedes, with their Ps and Qs and their manners.

Hey, Mercedes, open all the windows.

Opening the windows.

How many hours of fun can you have doing this?

Time to see what it's like to drive.

With three different driving modes, you would hope pretty damn well.

Right, let's go.

The comfort continues as you drive this car.

It's a bit like driving on the most comfortable sofa ever invented.

But the moment you put your foot down...

..you have instant power and lots of it.

When you put it into sport mode...

..there's a sort of an exhaust sound...

EXHAUST SOUND

..that comes on.

Again, fun.

It's like... It's like driving on a really fast cloud.

So, the Mercedes EQS, specifically the 53, it is a real tour de force

of what Mercedes can do with its electric vehicles.

It does 0 to 62 in under three seconds, it's four-wheel-drive,

it is kind of everything that Mercedes can throw at an EV.

And, unfortunately, that does come at a price.

Now, the 150,000 price tag will be too much for most of us,

so maybe, just maybe, there's a way of making some of that money back.

I've got one idea using another of the Merc's luxury features -

a massage setting for the front two seats.

And not just any massage.

You can have relaxing massage, mobilising massage,

activating massage, classic massage,

depth waves, deep workout...

Surely this is a guaranteed money-spinner.

Let's see if I can drum up any takers.

For a tenner a go, it's a bargain.

Get your massage here.

You just need to sit down. I promise I won't touch you.

Make yourself comfortable. You don't have to put your seat belt on

because we're not going anywhere. No, we're not going anywhere.

So would you like a relaxing, mobilising or activating massage?

Let's go for relaxing. Relaxing. There we go.

Is it good? Yeah. Is it a good feeling? Very.

You've just finished work. Relaxing. You want to relax. OK.

Does it feel good? Yeah, lovely.

Unwind? Yeah.

This is...just beautiful.

Nothing to see here. Two grown men sitting in a car park getting

massaged by a Mercedes. This has got to be the weirdest thing ever.

THEY LAUGH

Coming up, I meet an impressive city runaround...

It's steering itself.

..and an electric track legend.

Rather embarrassingly, I don't know how to open the door.

I've been looking at some of the best electric cars

you can ditch your gas guzzlers for.

Most EVs now have a range of over 200 miles,

but the biggest adjustment crossing over to electric

is factoring in the need to charge.

Range is always considered a negative of electric cars.

I've found that people are more worried now

about charging speeds than range.

So as long as you can charge up quickly,

that basically addresses the range issue.

One of the UK models with the longest range

is from the Mercedes EQS family we've already seen.

But fear not, there are cheaper cars out there

that can still take you a long way on a charge.

In the £30,000 to £50,000 bracket,

The CUPRA Born 77 kilowatt hour e boost

will give you up to 340 miles.

And so will the Polestar 2 Long range Single motors'

78 kilowatt hour battery.

But these days, car batteries can give you more than just range,

as I'm about to find out with this next car.

The Hyundai IONIQ 5.

It is a real head-turner. Look at the design.

It's futuristic, I love the sort of matrix of lights in the back.

It screams electric.

The longer range battery option will give you 315 miles

in return for around £50,000.

Although a standard full charge is around 12 hours,

with an ultra fast charger, you could add 62 miles of range

in five minutes or go from 10% to 80% battery in under 20.

The Hyundai IONIQ 5 is such a significant new addition

to the family EV class.

It really blends executive appeal with family car practicality,

but, more than that, it really showcases some interesting

and very useful tech.

That includes Hyundai's Remote Smart Parking Assist,

which lets you finesse your parking position

at the touch of your key buttons after you've left the car.

The car will move back.

There's nobody in the car.

And it has another even more useful party trick.

So this car's got the capability of using its battery

to power up other things.

Small appliances, for example. Anything with a three pin plug.

The IONIQ 5's battery can power any device or electrical equipment

up to 3.6 kilowatts with its onboard 220 volt plug.

Now, you can power blenders, rice cookers, kettles, what have you,

but I thought that's... that's just child's play.

Can it power a bouncy castle?

That's what we want to know.

That's a lot of castle to blow up.

I was kind of hoping for the kindergarten version.

I want to see just how much I can push the battery of this car

to highlight how it could change the way we power everything.

All we need to do is open our charging port at the back

and get out this special little gizmo that comes with your car.

And all that does is it turns your charging port

from an inlet to an outlet, if you like.

So we're going to plug in our bouncy castle.

That's in there.

That goes in there.

And turn it on.

GENERATOR WHIRS

It works! Hoorah!

You can set the car to monitor the battery when using the plug

to avoid running out of power.

1.6 kilowatts of energy is being used.

I'm still at 91%.

Nothing to see here. Just...

Just my car blowing up a bouncy castle.

It's just average, normal, everyday things, you know?

I can't believe it. We've just blown up a rather sizeable,

larger than I thought it was going to be, bouncy castle with a car.

How wild is that?

Shoes off. Fun times.!

I've never been so happy.

ALEXIS LAUGHS

This is wild.

Other car manufacturers, including Kia and Genesis,

also offer this technology, with more likely to follow.

It's essentially the same kind of electricity you're getting

from your home domestic supply, which completely revolutionises

all sorts of things, whether that's camping and you want to

put some lights up and charge your phones and run music

and maybe have a sound system, you can run it off the car.

So I think that's a massive game changer.

This, my friends, is the future!

Urban living and weaving through the city streets

demand different priorities to range and speed.

There's the pocket sized Fiat 500

for fitting into those tight parking spaces.

The 124-mile range Mazda MX-30 - a smallish SUV

with a surprising amount of storage space and recycled cork trim.

The mini electric gives smooth and responsive handling

with a classic style.

Yes, manufacturers are vying to appeal to city dwellers

with compact, nimble run-arounds without the exhaust fumes.

And the Honda e is one of those very cars.

I have to say, when you look at it, you just fall in love with it.

It looks completely different to all the other cars.

But the Honda e is very much designed to be a city car

and we know that because it's got a pretty low range.

137 miles is the official.

120, really, is what you're going to see on your dash.

Coming in at around £30,000, it's not cheap,

but you do get a lot of tech thrown in for your cash.

It has a whole range of sensors, cameras and systems

designed to help you navigate the dense urban jungle.

It's also packed with entertainment options - USB and HDMI inputs,

a three pin socket, a passenger side screen

and an excellent sound system.

But what is it like on the move?

It feels comfortable to drive. Really comfortable to drive.

It kind of puts a smile on your face when you're driving this car.

Now, the big thing, no wing mirrors.

You're talking about a two-inch difference

to where your eyesight falls.

Two seconds and you get used to it.

Now, when it's raining, Honda say they have covered their cameras

with special anti-rain protection,

so you're going to be able to have actually really good visibility

even in very, very bad weather,

so I think that's a wonderful feature, the cameras.

But I have to say, driving it around town at the moment,

it's nippy, it's tight.

You can do a nice little U-turn whenever you fancy it.

Yeah, thumbs up from me.

It excites me.

I love the features, I love being in here

and it's got great functionality and it drives well.

What else can you ask for?

The Honda e will even park for you.

It has to recognise a space and once it recognises it,

it's going to come up on the dashboard.

Oh, there it goes. It's got the parking space.

Let everything go.

And this feels very strange.

It knows exactly what to do.

The car is driving itself.

My feet are off the brake and the accelerator.

It's steering itself

and it's a pretty tight space.

There's cars either side.

It's done it.

Quite the party trick.

How amazing is that?

Now, I've been wanging on about this car and how nimble it is

and how it's built for the city and tight spaces,

so the team have set me a bit of a challenge.

An obstacle course, if you will.

Drive through the trestle tables laden with assorted antiquities.

If I break it, I buy it.

Dodge the Jenga with my long lost 21-year-old face on it.

And park up without toppling any ballerina gnome bystanders.

Essentially, a reverse around the corner in a very tight space

with all the jeopardy of a bull in a china shop.

I might have bitten off more than I can chew here.

Here I come.

I think they've given me about an inch...

CAR BUZZES

The dreaded sound. An inch either side.

Ooh! NERVOUS LAUGH

We don't have to worry about wing mirrors knocking anything over.

Oh, that football is so close.

Now, it's the Jenga that I'm worried about.

This is... This is going to be easy peasy, lemon squeezy!

ALEXIS LAUGHS

Smashed it.

But then the team asked me to do it all again, this time in reverse.

And that's when it all went a bit...

..Pete Tong.

All right, I give up. I can't do it the other way around.

I was good with the first bit, which I thought was the toughest.

But I still think that this car has got so many cameras around

that you're going to be able to fit it in the tightest spots.

The Honda e is a really interesting one

and I think it's possibly a little bit before its time.

It offers really high-tech functions like being able to plug

your games console in and play your games on it,

which of course is going to appeal to quite a young audience.

But not only that, they've also produced a car

which is exceptionally easy to drive, it's very light steering,

very tight turning circle, good visibility,

and in that respect, I actually think the Honda e

could appeal to older people as well.

At the other end of the spectrum and slightly less likely

to be spotted in your average city street,

you have the electric supercars.

As we've seen, performance is by no means only for petrolheads.

You can make an electric motor very powerful very easily.

It's not as difficult as it is with the combustion engine,

where you have the limitations of physics with fuel going in,

air going in and the capacity of the engine and all this stuff.

With electric motors, it's just a much simpler thing.

The performance that you can get from electric motors

is completely transcendent from what you can get from a petrol engine.

The Lotus Evija is the first British-produced hypercar

and it's the world's lightest production EV hypercar

at 1,680 kilograms.

The Pininfarina Battista has a whopping 120 kilowatt hour battery

and twice the power of an F1 racing car.

And the Rimac Nevera

is set to be the world's fastest accelerating production car.

But I'm going to meet a recurring record breaker.

Now, this is what I call a supercar.

This is the NIO EP9 - E standing for electric, P for performance

and, boy, can this perform.

Top speed, 194mph.

And look at it.

It just screams supercar.

Only 16 of these exist in the entire world

and each is worth over £1,000,000,

so although this one is currently out of action

and sadly I'm not able to drive it, I'm excited even just to be near it.

The EP9 has a history of smashing records

and someone who has been lucky enough to drive it

is race driver Peter Dumbreck.

Here he is breaking the record for the fastest lap time

at the Nurburgring in 2017.

The first time the record was held by an electric car.

It looks like an amazing machine.

What is this car like to drive? Extreme. I'd say it's extreme.

You know, it's got a lot of tech in there.

So, the EP9 does 0 to 60 in about 3.3 second,

so that power is pretty much instant,

it's four-wheel-drive,

there's no gear change and it's one megawatt of power,

which is over 1,300 horsepower.

You know, the braking is so fantastic in this car.

I remember you just stamp on the brakes and it just stops so quickly

so the difficulty is not slowing down too much for the corners.

It's a machine made for speed

and it's certainly built a little differently to your average car.

It looks like it's sort of more a design

of almost like an aircraft than a car.

Is that to keep it on the floor rather than getting it taking off?

Essentially, it's like the reverse of a plane wing.

The faster the air travels under the car,

it sucks it to the ground and produces more downforce.

NIO says this car has so much downforce

it could theoretically drive on the ceiling.

Shall we have a look inside?

Surely, yes.

Erm, now, rather embarrassingly, I don't know how to open the door.

So underneath here, there's a little catch. Yeah. There you go.

ALEXIS GASPS

Oh, my goodness.

Wow.

I would describe this as a bath taking position.

This is what I'm like while I'm taking a bath.

What... What is this? You're quite reclined.

So this car is capable of cornering at 3G,

such is the grip level you've got,

so you've got to be able to have somewhere to put your head for...

Basically, this is so you can keep your head upright. Yes.

Is that...? Something like that, yeah. Wow.

I mean, it is beautiful in here, I have to say.

And also, I am really quite comfortable.

This is a really nice seating position. They're relaxing.

Although, I'm not quite sure how relaxing I'd find it at 3G.

In terms of owning one for ourselves,

I guess that isn't really on the cards.

It's not even licensed for the road, so fairly useless

for popping to the shops, but it's undoubtedly a truly epic car.

Coming up, I'm taking things off road.

Oh, my goodness.

This is unreal!

With so many big name car manufacturers

switching over to electric, there's more choice out there

than ever before.

Family cars, city cars, luxury cars, they're all a ten a penny,

but what about an electric car to have fun in?

Yeah, that'll do.

This is the Munro 1.

Not only is this 4x4 entirely electric,

it was also designed and manufactured here in Britain,

so I met one of the brains behind it, Russ Peterson,

to get the lowdown on this new kid on the block.

What have been the challenges of putting together a car like this?

So what we decided to do is create a vehicle

with a mechanical drive train and one centrally mounted motor

that you could lock all the differentials on the vehicle

and get the same traction on all four wheels.

And why is that vital to off-roading?

And we're not talking about off-roading for people

who want to go out and have fun, we're talking about serious

vehicle use where people are doing mountain rescue,

when the car needs to get to places for very important reasons.

You're exactly right. It's in these kind of mountain rescue situations

where someone's life is at risk, you know, you can't afford to

suddenly lose traction. If one wheel breaks out,

it could start digging a hole and then you're stuck, and it could be

that you're the only vehicle in attendance on that situation.

It's designed to be very repairable and it's designed to have

that workhorse feel of the original Land Rovers,

but bringing in the modern advances in technology.

Electric assisted power steering, for example.

In preparation for its launch, Ross' team put the Munro 1

through its paces, up mountains and through rivers.

But they've also put it to some more surprising uses

during their workshop renovations.

We were knocking the wall down with a hammer

and getting pretty puffed out and tired, so we just jumped in this

and drove it through the wall to finish the job off.

You drove this through a wall? Yeah, absolutely.

There's nothing you can damage. It's all steel on the front.

I clearly need to experience this beast for myself,

so track designer Hugh has kindly agreed to take me on a test drive.

And for this, I'm very much keeping it country.

And then if you just press the D. Press the D for drive.

Good to go? Yeah.

Oh. Off we go.

So we'll just keep going round to the left here.

So the beauty of this car is it's just instant torque. Yeah.

And you don't have any gears to go...

You don't have any gears to worry about stalling.

Like all electric cars, it doesn't require any gear changes,

which in an off-road environment makes it very appealing.

If you need more power for some rough terrain,

you simply put your foot down.

And just accelerate up this hill.

Go on. Go on. Up here?

Go, go. Go, go. Keep going, keep going.

There's a lot of hill here.

Oh, my goodness! ALEXIS LAUGHS

It just goes. There's no stopping it.

It'll just keeps going. That was great.

With a top speed of 80mph,

this car isn't going to win awards for its speed,

but when it comes to strength, well, it can tow 3.5 tonnes.

Where am I going to go after we drop down? Straight across the track.

Trust the car.

Don't trust me, I'm just making it up.

LAUGHTER

Oh, my goodness.

This is unreal!

With a range of 168 miles,

the developers reckon it can last up to 16 hours off highway.

In other words, not operating at high speeds on a motorway.

I am massively impressed and this is just the prototype.

This is an incredible machine, I have to say.

It is a lot of fun to drive.

It seems to conquer everything with ease.

And, actually, I've never driven a car off-road.

You kind of feel invincible.

I mean, some of the paths we've been going down, I don't think I can even

walk down them, let alone drive a three-tonne car over them,

so it's really, really impressive.

And I think that if you're looking for a car

to have fun with off-roading, look no further.

I think I'll keep it.

The electric car market is so exciting at the moment,

very exciting in terms of the range of EVs that are coming in right now

and in terms of how they're changing the technology that people live with

every day, from infotainment through to charging and more.

The shapes of cars are changing

and the technology, the efficiency, is changing as well.

They are getting faster.

They're going further.

The future for electric vehicles is really exciting.

Basically, they're here to stay, whatever you think.

When the options out there are already this good,

it feels like the only way for electric cars is up.

And I, for one, am a real electric fan.

You know what I mean!

Subtitles by Red Bee Media