What is it?
The Octavia Green E Line concept is the first Skoda to shun internal combustion in favour of the click and whirr of battery power. It gets a 114bhp electric motor fed by 180 lithium-ion cells stowed under the passenger compartment.
Why's it here?
It took a wrong turn at Toulouse. No, it's because they're all at it, this electric car lark, and Skoda starts field-testing the E Line next year. Performance isn't groundbreaking - 62mph comes in 12 seconds and top speed is 83mph - but its range is a decent 87 miles. That's not bad for a proper five-seat estate with a big boot.
Show stopper or floor filler?
Interesting, but hardly the Jaguar C-X75, right? There's a cool energy flow meter in the instrument panel, which shows how much charge you're sucking up, as well as the amount being fed back to the battery pack via the magic of regenerative braking.
Mark Nichol - 30 Sep 2010