Around a decade ago I had a test drive for a few days in a Nissan Leaf, which was the pioneer of widely-available electric cars in the UK. Before that, we had a few quirky little city cars, manufactured in small volumes, but the Leaf was the one that really kick-started our EV revolution.
It was early days, though, and as ground-breaking as that car was, the first version had a range of barely 100 miles. More to the point, public charging points were scarce, meaning it was only really any good for driving around town before charging overnight at home.
Things have moved along considerably since then. After Tesla hit the UK, I took a drive in its Model S in 2015 and it was a massive step forwards, with a much bigger range, making it a viable alternative to petrol and diesel. And today, practically every manufacturer has an all-electric offering and - crucially - the infrastructure is much better than it was when I drove that Leaf, with charging points widely available.
