THE RENAULT Kangoo Z.E. is a van - but not as we know it.

Lift the bonnet and all seems normal - there is what appears to be a transversely mounted engine there and a normal battery lying alongside.

But a closer inspection will reveal no plug leads or anything in this vein because the familiar friendly Kangoo has morphed into something quite different - an affordable all-electric van.

Introduced at a turning point in the motor industry when electric engines are powering up new sectors across the worlds marketplaces the Kangoo Z.E. is, without doubt a pacemaker in a whole new world of power.

Although electric delivery vehicles are not new - milk floats ran on battery power and a certain well-known London store used electric delivery vans decades ago - many early efforts were slow and unpleasant to use.

But the Kangoo Z.E. provides a workable solution to some of the most difficult questions over electric power in 2011.

Firstly it has excellent performance, which is something electric power has failed to achieve in many other efforts.

Then there is the question of range which has also been a previous stumbling block. In the case of the Kangoo Z.E. one charge delivered by a lead that plugs in to the front of the vehicle provides a claimed range of 106 miles.

The battery under the bonnet only powers the vehicle systems, the real oomph coming from a cutting-edge 22kWh lithium ion battery which is located centrally beneath the floor which means the the Z.E. has the same carrying capacity as the conventional version with a payload of 650kg.

One the road it is only the silence of the vehicle - just some intrusion from tyre noise - that betrays the fact that it is electric.

Road holding is particularly good, the weight of the batteries in the rear adding, I feel to the roadholding capabilities when running light.

Some other electric cars and commercials have always felt a bit 'dead', lacking dynamism when it came to driving but this is a different animal.

The truth is that it is extremely pleasant, and although I would have liked to see a bit more range it answers the needs of operators who do around 100 miles a day.

The engine delivers the equivalent of 60bhp with acceleration from a standing start and through the mid speed ranges is crisp and a reducer, which replaces the gearbox enables linear, seamless driving.

The dashboard has been entirely rethought with two additional dials on either side of the speedometer, one indicating the battery's level of charge and the other an econometer which tells the driver how energy is being used.

With basic prices starting at £16,990 this is one of the first really credible challenges to petrol and diesel power in the world of light commercials.