THE Nissan Micra is going electric as the Japanese car maker moves to make EV motoring more affordable.

The latest generation supermini will cost from £21,495 when it is released thanks to the Government's Electric Car Grant - and that makes it one of the cheapest zero emission models.

With the £1,500 grant, all versions of the new Micra will come in from £28,365 - and that's for a car with a range up to 260 miles.

The Micra has been absent from our roads since 2022 and the latest, sixth generation model sees the newcomer sharing its underpinnings with the Renault 5, the current European Car of the Year.

Built in Douai in France and based on the AmpR platform it has a long wheelbase of 2.54 metres, a boot capacity of 326 litres and the ability to tow up to 500kg.

Two battery packs are available - a 40 kWh set up with a 198 mile range on entry level Engage and mid-specification Advance versions with a 52 kWh longer range system also offered in Advance trim and top range Evolve Micras.

The 52 kWh Advance model is priced from £25,495 after the grant and all models can be recharged to 80 per cent capacity in 30 minutes from a fast charger

All new Micras come with a heat pump and V2L (Vehicle-to-Load) capability for powering small devices - and are ready for V2G (Vehicle-to-Grid) integration which is coming soon.

We have just been driving the Micra in Evolve spec and it comes with a premium sound system, heated front seats and steering wheel and Nissan's ProPILOT driver aid system and navigation set up.

While the Micra interior is similar to the Renault 5 the Nissan design team have made significant changes to the outside look with classy styling to the front and rear light clusters which have circular LED clusters giving a distinctive appearance.

Dual 10.1-inch screens on the instrument panel are clear and intuitive and display all functions well,

The Micra hasGoogle built-in which means Google Maps, Assistant, and Play Store are available from the cockpit.

A full suite of driver assistance features include adaptive cruise and parking support as well as autonomous emergency braking, emergency lane keeping assist and lane departure warning.

That all makes the new Micra a very well equipped supermini and part of Nissan's future electric plans which include a new Leaf that is due to be built at the Nissan factory in Sunderland.

On the performance front the 40 kWh battery is good for 0 to 62mph in nine seconds while the larger set up reduces that by a second.

Both have top speeds of 93 mph.

As well as the new Leaf there is also an all-electric Juke in the wings which will also be built in Sunderland while there is also talk of an EV version of the Qashqai - good news indeed for the British workforce.