The use of electric runabouts en masse is a step closer now, as the biggest trial of the vehicles Top Gear's James May called "appalling little plastic snot-boxes" begins on UK shores.

Of the 340 electric cars involved in the trial, 110 of them are placed in the West Midlands across Birmingham and Coventry, after the area proved its suitability by winning a Technology Strategy Board (TSB) competition. The TSB, a Government agency, has put £15m of tax money into the trial.

A load of manufacturers have donated cars to people deemed suitable by Coventry University researchers, including Mitsubishi i-MiEVs, Smart eds, Tata Indicas and Land Rover Range_es. Aston University in Birmingham will collate data over the next year, then report back to Government. The trial will look at the overall suitability of electric cars in a real world application, taking battery range, running costs and the ease (or difficulty) of actually charging the things into account.

Mark Nichol - 15 Dec 2009