It seems the two electric city cars due to be unveiled at the London Motor Show are a case of something old and something new. One is the Maranello4, already available in the UK and already established as nothing particularly special. The other is more of a mystery. Cleverly and/or cringingly called the NICE (No Internal Combustion Engine), the new electrickery doohickey will be revealed to the not-particularly-expectant motoring press on July 18. Until then, all that's available at the NICE web site are some silly silhouettes. We’ll do our level best to bring you pics and specs on the day.

Update 18 July 2006: OK, so the Maranello4 didn't seem to be at the London Motor Show. What was there, besides the NICE car, was the Smart EV. While the Smart Electric Vehicle is highly polished and, on paper, highly accomplished, it won't be available to the public for a good while. Instead DaimlerChrysler is producing 200 that will be used in a pilot programme by fleet drivers.