WITHIN three years, electric cars will be worth £7 billion to the British market, according to a report published this week. That's one helluva big boost to the UK's beleaguered dealerships.

Sales of all cars this year are forecast to fall below the psychologically important two million milestone. Some pundits are predicting they may even slump as low as 1.8m.

No wonder manufacturers are looking around for the next big trend - and many are betting the house on electricity.

According to a survey by the respected SfK Automotive group , by 2014 more than 300,000 new cars sold in the UK will be battery powered.

In 2011, although the Nissan Leaf has stolen the headlines, another Japanese manufacturer has won the race to bring a genuine mass-market electric car to the UK.

The Mitsubishi i MiEV (an acronym for Mitsubishi innovative Electric Vehicle) arrived in showrooms at the start of the year.

After Government grants it costs £23,990 - that’s a lot for a hatchback which is smaller than a Fiat 500, but the i-MiEV offers a fascinating glimpse of the future.

Based on the Mitsubishi “i” kei car (a Japanese-market city car), the MiEV uses an electric motor that’s mounted on the rear axle. The power output of 63bhp is nothing to get excited about (it’s the same as the petrol version) but the large torque figure of 180 Nm is.

Electric cars don’t drive like a petrol or a diesel. Their maximum power (and all that torque) is available almost instantaneously - so the MiEV pulls away sharply from a standing start and has no problems keeping pace with traffic.

It cruises serenely at 60 mph and has enough in reserve for spirited overtakes on the motorway. Its top speed is around 80 mph and it doesn’t feel strained as you approach maximum mph.

In fact, the motor is virtually inaudible at all speeds. It’s smooth, too. The MiEV feels as laid-back and refined as a Lexus LS460 that costs £68,000.

Despite carrying an extra 180kg more than the petrol i, the MiEV handles well.

It rides softly and there’s a fair bit of lean if you take a corner too quickly (a familiar issue for kei cars which are all rather tall and narrow due to Japanese legal requirements) but the battery pack is mounted beneath the chassis where lowers the centre of gravity for better balance.

If you put your foot down the battery range drops alarmingly. It’s the same story if the weather’s wintry and you need to put the heater on or defrost the windows.

Mitsubishi offers some interesting power-saving tips, like using a scraper and some de-icer in winter or opening a window instead of using the air conditioning when the cabin gets too hot in summer.

When the need for a recharge becomes pressing, the digital display flashes up a graphic of a turtle (!?) to warn you that it’s a good idea to plug-in as soon as possible.

If you’re happy travelling at a more leisurely pace the Eco mode - which drops the power to 42 bhp and increases the brake regeneration - can stretch a full charge around 80 miles. Recharging the lithium ion battery pack from flat to full takes approximately seven hours. If you’re lucky enough to live near a quick charge point, the power pack can be charged to 80 per cent in about half-an-hour.

The short dimensions make even the smallest parking space fair game for the MiEV - and it turns on a sixpence.

The cabin is surprisingly roomy, it’s perfectly possible to seat four adults, and the mid-mounted battery pack means the boot is a reasonable 227-litres or 860-litres with the seats folded down.

In Europe, the front and rear bumpers have been redesigned to comply with complex EU crash regulations. Mind you, every MiEV is built in Japan. Over here, it will also sire two European twins, the Citroen C-ZERO and the Peugeot iOn.

The gear stick is more of a drive selection mechanism (the MiEV uses a single gear reduction transmission) that’s not actually connected to the gearbox. Mitsubishi reckons the motor is so efficient that it doesn’t need a conventional cog box. The lack of all those gears makes for less noise and smoother progress, too.

Mitsubishi has set itself some sensible sales targets for the MiEV. The first containership to dock from Japan off-loaded a mere 2,500 examples - for the whole of Europe.

That probably makes a lot of sense. Cars like the MiEV may be the future but, for the moment, it remains something of a niche choice. The 80-mile range would concern me if this were my only car and the lack of quick charge points is something the Government needs to address as soon as possible.

As a second car used purely for short hops across town, the MiEV makes a whole lot more sense. It’s quiet, comfortable, easy to park and very manoeuvrable.

The price may look a bit steep but it’s a lot cheaper than the original RRP of £ 38,699, and (assuming an electricity price of 6p per kWh) recharging costs less than £1.

Is electric-power ready for the mainstream? With certain reservations I have to say that it is. If you can live with the range limitations the i MiEV asks remarkably few compromises of an owner.

Until now electric cars have been held back by the limitations of their batteries but a lot of very intelligent people are working on ways of improving battery density - giving more power for longer.

The i-MiEV is a bit like a first generation iPod. All your friends will be impressed when they see it, but the under-lying technology is likely to improve with each successive generation.

If this is the future, then we have plenty to look forward to.

SPEC CHECK: Price: £28,990 (less a £5,000 Government plug-in car grant) Engine: permanent magnet synchronous motor driving the rear wheels.

max power: 47kW.

Top speed: 81 mph.

0-62mph: 13 seconds.

Range to empty: approx 80 miles.

Charge time: 6 hours.

CO2 emissions: 0 Road tax: £0 Equipment: Electric windows, climate control, alarm, immobiliser, alloy wheels, MP3 connectivity, CD, ASC.