First drive: Vauxhall Ampera

2011 has been a big year for electric cars, with the Nissan Leaf winning the coveted Car of The Year award and being the first, affordable, purpose-built, zero-emissions car from a major manufacturer when it went on sale in March.

Now it's Vauxhall's turn in the green car limelight, with its alternative, the £28,995 Ampera. Not on sale until next March, I headed to Amsterdam for an early drive of a production-ready car at the International launch, to find out if the Ampera offers a better everyday solution to electric motoring than the Nissan.