Nice Mega City (2008) CAR review

Stroll through central London on a weekday and you’d be forgiven for thinking the green car revolution had arrived. In the hour I spent driving the revamped Nice Mega City, I counted 21 electric vehicles. Mostly the G-Wiz (the Mega City’s biggest rival) but also electric delivery vans. In the congestion charge zone, electricity is almost a mainstream fuel.

Nice? My mother said never to use nice as a description

It stands for No Internal Combustion Engine, the chief talking point of this four-seat electric car, made by the French and sold here for £11,999. The car’s been around for a couple of years already, but the combination of an attractive facelift and the promise by mayor Boris Johnson to reverse the decision to exempt low-emission fuel-burning cars from the London charge zone has boosted the Mega City’s appeal.

Unlike the Think City electric car due here at the end of the year, the Mega City eschews the latest lithium ion batteries for the milk-float technology of lead-acid cells. The 40-mile range and 40mph top speed highlight the weakness of this age-old chemistry, but it is reasonably cheap. To replace the 12 under-seat packs (as you have to do every four years) costs £1800, compared with the £6000 that the Nice Car Company says you’d need for lithium ion batteries.

Click 'Next' below to read more of our Nice Mega City first drive