We’ve heard much about how the tipping point for electric vehicles is imminent, but let’s be realistic.

Across Europe, EVs currently have around a 1% mix of total car sales. In the UK, the situation is even worse - just 0.4% of cars on the road are battery-powered. It seems like that tipping point is still some way off.

Many excuses have been made about why buyers just aren’t enthused by EVs yet. Everything from the lack of a reliable and widespread charging infrastructure to range anxiety has meant many EV buyers who do take the plunge have one as their second car. Another issue is cost - there seems to be a vast chasm between low-end EVs such as the Renault Zoe and the more desirable, larger products like Teslas and the Jaguar I-Pace.

Hyundai and Kia may have just nailed the brief with their two new EVs, the Kona Electric and the Kia e-Niro, which is making its European debut at the Paris motor show. The e-Niro is large and practical, and can function as the sole family car.

Most impressive is the range, particularly of the larger-capacity variant. As with the Kona EV, the e-Niro can exceed 300 miles on a single charge - and that’s not on the old, optimistic NEDC testing regime but the new, more realistic WLTP cycle.

That range really isn’t very far off that of similar petrol or diesel models, and blows much costlier EV SUVs, such as the Audi E-tron and Mercedes-Benz EQC, out of the water. What’s more, it’s not at the expense of performance, as our drive of a Korean version of the e-Niro last month showed us.

But the best thing about the e-Niro is that it’s right at the cutting edge of what EVs can currently do, but will be barely any pricier than a conventionally fuelled equivalent. Expect even the larger-capacity model to dip below £30k once you factor in a government grant. And yet it’s loaded with standard equipment.

Let’s hope buyers aren’t put off by the badge (is badge snobbery really still a thing in this day and age?) or the e-Niro’s rather unexciting looks. Until Tesla can produce a truly cheap Model 3, the Koreans appear to have the best mass-market EVs on sale.

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