Hyundai Ioniq Electric, Kia Xceed

Premium SE

Mileage 3002 List price £34,950 Target Price £33,492 Price as tested £35,605 Test range 168 miles

A FEW WEEKENDS ago, my nephew, Noah, turned three. However, I had to get to the party and back in a day, even though the round trip came to 191 miles – 23 more than the range in the Ioniq’s battery. Clearly, I was going to have to do some public charging.

The charging point I aimed for was located next to a steakhouse, a gym and a coffee shop, giving me access to two of my favourite things while I waited. But when I arrived, I discovered that contrary to what I’d been led to believe, the chargers were for subscription-based Polar network users only.

I had to move onto another point, which was less well situated. But I felt better when I worked out that the trip had cost me £9.24 in electricity, whereas a petrol car averaging 40mpg would have set me back £21.03. DM