First four-seater electric car available

The UK's first four-seater electric car is available to buy from today.

The Citroen C1 ev'ie costs around £16,000 and can travel up to 70 miles without recharging.

The vehicle is the first four-seat car to be completely electric and had a top speed of around 60mph.

The launch of the electric car comes as the government announced its commitment to making the UK "a world leader in producing and exporting electric cars".

Commenting on the launch of the new car, Xavier Duchemin, managing director of Citroën UK said: "We are committed to providing greener alternatives for motorists and are delighted to be supplying ECC with C1s for this exciting project."

David Martell, chief executive of the Electric Car Corporation Plc (ECC), added: "We believe this is the first serious alternative to a petrol or diesel car. It drives just like a petrol car and has excellent capacity for use in any town or city in the UK.

"The key to building a successful electric car is an efficient battery management system (BMS). ECC has developed an advanced and sophisticated system, which when coupled with regenerative breaking, can provide the driver with much greater range and better performance."

The ECC aims to build around 500 of the new cars this year and says it hopes to make between 2,000 and 4,000 next year.