The Vauxhall Ampera - which can fully charge from a typical household plug in just three hours and for under £1 - is to go in on sale in the UK from 2012
This is the vehicle being billed as one which could rescue the British car industry from the brink of disaster.
Vauxhall bosses hope their £20,000 Ampera will represent the coming of age for electric cars and rescue thousands of jobs.
A £1 overnight mains charge is enough to take the Ampera 40 miles on battery power alone can travel a further 260 miles by using a petrol-driven generator tucked under the bonnet.
Vauxhall is planning to produce the car at its threatened Ellesmere Port plant in Cheshire, which employs 5,000.
Staff would switch from a two-shift four-day week to three full shifts five days a week.
But Vauxhall's U.S. owner, General Motors, is battling bankruptcy and there are grave doubts over its future.
The firm warned today that three of its European factories are at risk of closure
It is fast running out of cash and credit, has 30 per cent more capacity than it needs and wants workers to take significant pay cuts.
GM is asking ministers to back a network of plug-in charging points to help the push for electric cars.
It claims the Ampera could help fulfil the Prime Minister's ambition of making the UK the 'electric car capital of Europe'.
