THERE’S a new motor business in the island, The Guernsey Electric Car Company.

And that means that there’s a new car on the road, the French-built Aixam Mega City.

The man behind the firm is St Peter’s grower and douzenier Paul Domaille.

So what sparked this new venture?

‘I love efficient things,’ he said.

‘Unlike other fuels, electricity is transported to the point of use relatively efficiently and I hope we are one day going to have marine current turbine energy for free.’

He had been looking out for an electric car to sell locally for a while before plumping for the Mega, which has been out for just over a year.

‘It looks reasonably aesthetically pleasing – it looks like a car, it goes far enough for the island and will do 40mph on the flat.’

And is there a market locally for a city car that comes in at the sort of price that will buy you a sexy, upmarket, new Fiesta?

‘I did a lot of market research,’ he said.

‘The price did not put people off and I had a very good response from States departments.’

He has been on a course that will allow him and his laptop to look after the electronic side of things, while Roy Tostevin  will provide the rest of the aftersales care.

And Mr Domaille has liaised with Cherry Godfrey to come up with a finance package that takes into account the possibility that new batteries might be needed before the agreement is completed.

The lead-acid gel batteries are warranted for two years, can last four and my independent electrical adviser reckons it’s smart to base your costings on three.

UK importers Nice (No Internal Combustion Engine) reckon that come replacement time owners will be able to opt for the lighter, more powerful lithium ion batteries for their Mega.

‘Today the issue is cost – a lithium-ion pack would cost several thousand pounds, but the benefit is debatable,’ Nice co-founder Julian Wilford has said.

The current range and performance are adequate for city use and Nice is looking to li-on batteries that contain no free lithium in order to avoid the thermal runaways that caused recent laptop fires and recalls.

Anyway, having finished our chat and coffee, Mr Domaille and I went out to his driveway in which sat the demonstrator.

First impressions are good – especially compared with its most obvious rival, the G-Wiz.

The local Mega demo car might be orange enough to eradicate scurvy, but it is pleasingly car-shaped and has proper alloy wheels, too.

And remote central locking.

Getting into it, the proper-little-car impression generally survives, albeit not unscathed.

The front seats are comfortable enough, especially for the sort of journeys its range dictates and electric front windows are another proper car touch, as are the standard rear parking sensors.

It is safe, for the type, too. Like the G-Wiz, it is technically a quadricycle and therefore crash-testing exempt.

But while it lacks airbags, the Mega’s makers have submitted it for crash-testing and it met the standard required for real cars.

And the crash-test wreck did not go to waste, either. The welded aluminium frame clad in plastic and glass is said to be 100% recyclable.

Anyone who has driven a conventional automatic should have little difficulty switching to the Mega, which has a proper three-position drive, neutral and reverse transmission selector between the front seats.

The demo car is the more expensive four-seater model, though think of it as a two-plus-two – and that at best.

And since just Paul and I probably took it at least up to its 205 kilo payload, non-Twiggy types might just as well save the extra £500 and enjoy a loadbay uncluttered by tiny and not that easily accessed seats.

Even well laden, initial acceleration is smart – electric motors deliver their torque instantly – and it is only slotting into fast main road traffic that requires a bit of extra thought on the driver’s part.

The Mega’s electric motor lives under the bonnet and drives the front wheels using power from a pack of 12 batteries  under the front seats.

My drive took me from Paul’s house at the bottom of Le Coudre to the Perelle surfers’ slip and back, then to Les Valniquets, Pleinmont, to Saumarez Park (out via the coast and back via King’s Mills) to Pleinmont and then back to Le Coudre.

The only time I wouldn’t have minded a bit of extra oomph was coming up Le Dos d’Ane – the speed fell to just over 20mph.

But I never held up traffic, was generally cruising at 30mph-plus and all that running around took an indicated one-third or so out of the batteries. Lifting off early when slowing down or stopping and allowing the regeneration to put something back into the power pack had helped.

Although the instruments do indicate battery state, there is no estimate of range.

When things start to run down, or in slow traffic, a, low-power mode can be selected by a dash-mounted knob to help preserve the batteries.

For you, dear readers, I would happily have pushed it further, but you know what teenagers are like at getting out of bed.

So, running low on time, I took the Mega back to the Coudre and switched back to petrol power to dash the nipper into work.

That was a shame because the Mega City is quite fun to drive.

The battery pack keeps the centre of gravity low, which is good for stability and the unassisted steering gives a direct, involved feel that the post-Issigonis Mini generation has never experienced.

The brakes – front disc, rear drum – need a good heavy foot on the pedal, though. Non-servoed discs can feel pretty dead – as indeed they do on several mopeds.

It rained during the test and I noticed that there was a part of the screen in front of the passenger that remained unwiped.

Not that it was a problem, nor indeed a hangover from the Mega being originally left-hand drive.

That Continental influence makes its presence felt only in the siting of the tailgate release which remains in the left-hand (ie passenger’s) door.

City congestion charges in the UK help offset the high purchase price and make up for an interior that is less than opulent.

Here, Mega motorists will have for now to content themselves with zero tailpipe emissions, low overall carbon emissions and minimal servicing costs – there are just reduction unit oil to change and brake fluid and brakes to check.

But they do get a great big bright green halo.