Vauxhall Ampera review
It feels like a clever idea and you don't have the problem of running out of power, but the extra weight makes it a bit sluggish.
Weighing around 180kg, this battery pack sits under the rear seats in a T-shape. Intruding between the two rear passengers, it makes the Ampera a strict four-seater and reduces the boot size to an average 300 litres. However you can drop the rear seat backs to liberate just over 1000 litres and the overall feeling is that this would function decently well as family car.
So, how does a car with a total of three engines under the bonnet work in practice? The answer is, surprisingly well. The main electric engine does the lion’s share of the work, propelling the car on battery power until speeds of 60mph, when the secondary motor chimes in to help.
Confusingly this also acts as a generator too, so when the battery is down to its last 30 per cent, the 84bhp petrol engine seamlessly kicks in to recharge the batteries. However, with the generator also working an electric motor, some of that power gets fed indirectly to the wheels, making it closer to a hybrid.
In this mode, with the petrol engine responding more or less to the inputs from your accelerator foot, the Ampera is rated (based again on the American figures, translated to imperial gallons) at 44mpg. That’s obviously much less impressive, but with most commutes in the UK falling short of the 40-50mpg range, electric power sourced from the nightly household plug charge will make this very efficient indeed to run.