CITROEN E-C5 AIRCROSS

All-new family SUV reaches Britain in small-battery electric form

- MATT SAUNDERS

Any electric car buyer who is offered an extra 100 miles of range for less than £400 of extra cost is almost certain to accept. Typically £400 gets you about two-thirds of a metallic paint job or half a towbar yet, thanks to the way the UK's Electric Car Grant scheme works, this is the scenario that buyers of the electric version of Citroën's new C5 Aircross will find themselves in.

By dint of its battery being made in France, the Long Range version of the ë-C5 Aircross qualifies for the full £3750 subsidy, whereas the Chinese battery supply of the Comfort Range model tested here condemns it to getting just £1500.

Which surely gives this particular model some pretty dim commercial prospects. It can tell us plenty about the C5 Aircross in general, mind you, and more than hint at the sort of car that we can expect the more important Long Range model to be.