As tempting as it is to think that the current surge in EVs represents a frontier in breakthrough technologies, we’ve been quietly working away at delivering electric-powered transportation for close on two centuries.

If you want to know what the appeal of today’s electric vehicles (EVs) is, look no further than the advertisements. Under the banner of ‘Take the Lead. Drive Electric’, Kia, maker of the EV6, says the ‘future of driving is now’. With its XC40 Recharge compact SUV, Volvo declares that ‘the future is electric’. A promotion for the Volkswagen eGolf shows a driver bidding a petrol pump assistant a tearful goodbye before driving off into an electric future. Of its Concept EQ, Mercedes simply states ‘Goodbye noise, hello electric’, while Polestar 2 is self-assured enough to poke fun at Tesla by saying that it has no ambitions to conquer Mars. Hyundai is more level-headed when it tells us that getting to the Ioniq 5 ‘might have been a long evolution’ but ‘it was worth it’.

Hyundai...