Electric cars are the future, or so we are constantly being been told.

The idea that we can simply plug in and glide away silently without making so much as a sparrow sniff is appealing to a growing minority, particularly in cities.

Now manufacturers are falling over themselves to produce a car with a battery pack smaller than a milk float and at a price under £30,000.

But few are taking inspiration from one of the first electric city cars on the scene — the G-Wiz.

In fact the G-Wiz is not a car; it is technically a quadricycle – which means it can get round every safety requirement in the book.

When it was put through a Euro NCAP crash test, the poor old dummy driver had to be cut out of the wreckage having smashed its head on the windscreen.

The argument is that in London, where trendy types and Mayor Boris Johnson have been strong advocates of the G-Wiz, you never go fast enough to risk life and limb. That said, given the behaviour of the average cabbie, I wouldn’t fancy my chances.

But the main problem is that you look like a nerd in a tinny contraption that you can push over with one hand.

There is no room in the back, not that you would risk putting your kids in there anyway, and the range is just 45 miles on a fully-charged battery, which sinks rapidly if you go anywhere near any “normal” roads where your speed increases above 10mph.

The build quality is laughable with gaps in the bodywork the size of your leg, making winter driving a bitter experience, even if the heater doesn’t run the battery down by the time you’ve got out of your drive.

You would be better off (and probably safer if you wear a helmet) on a bicycle.

And as for driving in London, then you don’t pay congestion charge on a hybrid car and given the choice between a Lexus 400h and a G-Wiz, I know where I’d rather be.