Citroën launches four-seater electric car

The first four-seater, all-electric car has gone on sale in Britain.

The car is an electric version of the Citroën’s C1 city car. It costs £16,850 and has a range of 60 to 70 miles on a fully-charged battery.

In order to charge the vehicle, motorists can plug it into a domestic 13 amp socket – a full charge takes 7 hours and costs less than £1.

Xavier Duchemin, of Citroën UK, said: “We are committed to providing greener alternatives for motorists and are delighted to be supplying Electric Car Corporation (ECC) with C1s for this exciting project.”

The car is put together in Bedfordshire, with its makers expecting to produce around 500 of the models in the next year.

Electric car grant will arrive too late

The company behind the electric C1 believes the proposed £5,000 grant for electric cars due in 2011 will put people off buying the vehicle until then.

David Martell, chief executive of the Electric Car Corporation, tells The Times: “It would have been better if the Government had not made any announcement. Offering free beer tomorrow does not persuade people to buy beer today. The grants should be available now because our car meets the criteria outlined by the Government.”

Green breakdown cover for cars

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