When we first embarked on our Fully Charged journey — 10 years and 553 episodes ago — we were especially attracted to electric cars and the clean energy that could potentially power them. Over time, and to our occasional astonishment, the adaptability of the humble battery has opened up new applications as easily as a swiss-army knife. Aviation is something we never thought we would see in our lifetimes, and it’s still in its infancy, but a wave of E-boats are about to make their bow. Amsterdam, in the Netherlands, is known as “the Venice of the North” and with its thousands of waterways is outlawing diesel boats from 2025. Naturally, other European Cities are set to follow. When we were invited to be part of an Ocean Clean-Up organized by AIM ZERO in Sweden, we didn’t hesitate.

After a full 21 months since Fully Charged took the test-version vehicle out in sunny South Africa, Robert Llewellyn finally got to grips with the “First Edition” VW ID.3 in the not-so-sunny south of England.

It’s no secret that, having had a few of them, we are fans of Volkswagen‘s Golf. And surely with its similar proportions, the ID.3 is its logical, technological successor. But does the reality match that expectation?

The Urban EV concept burst onto the scene at the Frankfurt Motor Show three years ago. With its “cutesy faced” front end, Honda had found a forward-looking design to spearhead its electric car efforts, and with a similar face at the rear, it appeared attractively retro, too. While the eventual design lost a few elements in translation, it looked like Honda had hit a home run. In the end, though, while they swung and hit, have Honda ultimately played it too safe?