Ian Lamming takes the Leap into Affordable City Electric Motoring

ELECTRIC vehicles are here but are they here to stay?

As the world umms and ahhs over the merits of EVs, a Chinese manufacturer is urging you take a leap of faith with its T03 city car.

But why would you? Well, the Leap T03 immediately resolves two popular concerns, price and residuals. At £16,000 it’s the cheapest EV by a country mile and with such little outlay there’s not so much to lose with the passage of time.

As electric cars go it has a healthy range of 165 miles and recharges in the relative blink of an eye. That’s another two very important boxes ticked then.

The city car has leaped from the shadows thanks to a collaboration between Leapmotor International and European automotive giant Stellantis, which distributes a variety of brands including Peugeot, Citroen, Fiat, Jeep, Alfa and Vauxhall.

Founded in 2015, Leapmotor is aiming to make electric vehicles more price accessible and at 16K it is certainly doing that.

To do this it is employing cutting-edge technologies​, high levels of specification as standard, user-friendly innovations and customer value.

The manufacturer also recognises that choosing an electric car for the first time can sometimes be daunting, so it endeavours to make the process as simple and enjoyable as possible, hence there is just one top level of specification.

Sound thinking but what is it like to live with? Well, it looks like a Fiat 500’s slightly swotty sibling and is certainly clever enough to adopt that mantle.

Big eyes, a cute button nose (behind which is the charging socket) and a wry smirking grille make it pleasant enough to look at. Decent proportions and diminutive size make it the ideal tool for town and city driving and parking. It’s what you would expect from this kind of model.

But what might surprise you is how good it is on the open road. Diddy cars can be a bit bouncy, and hence lairy, thanks to short travel suspension, but Leap boasts a bigger car ride.

The battery is attached to the chassis and forms the floorpan giving the Leap extra rigidity so it will handle the plethora of potholes that blight our roads and control the bodyshell should you get the urge to chuck it at some twisties. It’s good fun.

The 37.3 kWh electric motor offers nippy performance and you can out-drag the petrol powered away from the lights enjoying the bewildered expressions on combatants’ faces.

On the dual carriageways it will happily sit at the legal 70mph limit with no noise from the motor and very little from wind or road. It feels nice and stable and the sharp steering makes it accurate. When you need to top the battery up it takes just 36 minutes to go from 30-80 per cent so no need to loiter tediously at the charger.

Drivers will also be pleasantly surprised by the build quality and the specification which is so much higher than you would expect to see in a 16k car. The 10in touchscreen dominates the interior taking care of most of the functions ably enough.

You also get 15in alloys, a panoramic sunroof, and a suite of advanced features including blind spot detection, lane departure warning, reversing camera and rear parking sensors, advanced connectivity, power assisted seats, adaptive cruise control, automatic air conditioning and a steering wheel with audio controls.

Strangely it doesn’t feel like a small car at all and as you glance across to the front passenger seat footwell it’s spacious and airy. It’s every bit the Tardis. At the same time there is enough rear legroom and the boot will take your shopping nicely. Front seats are full-sized and sporty so it all conspires to make you feel you are in a full-sized car.

T03 is definitely a foot in the door just as EV sales stall through uncertainty, cost and fears over residuals. It is so much better than a car this price ought to be and is the ideal starting point for anyone thinking of making the EV leap.

Fact File

Leap T03

Engine: electric

Power: 95HP

0-62mph: 12.7 secs

Top speed: 113mph

Range: 165

Transmission: automatic

CO2 g/km: 0

Price: £16,000