FORD PUMA GEN-E

Britain's favourite car turns electric, promising the same fun and practicality plus excellent efficiency

- VICKY PARROTT

Let's face it: Ford desperately needs a small, affordable electric car. With the Renault 5 now in showrooms, plus the Jeep Avenger, Volkswagen ID 3, Volvo EX30, Smart #1 and all of Stellantis’s sub-£30k EVs going well in the UK, never mind the ZEV mandate regulations, Ford has been worryingly lacking in this class.

So it’s great news that the brand’s small EV is finally here - and that the Puma Gen-E is precisely the sort of proposition that will get people through showroom doors.

Starting from just under £30,000, it has a 53kWh nickel-manganese-cobalt battery powering a single front-mounted motor, giving it an official range of up to 234 miles.

It looks exactly like the standard petrol Puma except for its Mustang Mach-E-esque blanked-off front grille. It even sits on a modified version of that car’s platform, so we're still dealing with a small crossover that’s notably shorter (at 4.2m) and lighter (at 1563kg) than the ID 3 and co.

Which makes it even more impressive that Ford has squeezed in a massive 523 litres of luggage space - 145 litres of which is in the waterproof ‘Gigabox’ beneath the boot floor (complete with a plug, just in case you want to use it as an ice bath for your beers). It really is a significant USP to have this much boot space in a conveniently compact car; those with chunky buggies will be well catered for.

There's plenty of space in the rear of the cabin too. You will find more head and leg room in the ID 3 or Kia EV3, but a couple of bulky car seats or average-sized adults will be just dandy on the 60/40-split rear bench.