Kia says that the Long Range version of its EV2 electric supermini has been approved by the UK government for the full £3,750 discount of the electric car grant. 

It means that Air, GT-Line and GT-Line S variants of the car that are equipped with the bigger 61kWh battery still start from an entirely reasonable £24,245. 

Wait, ‘still start’? Well yes, because Kia announced at the beginning of April that it was putting the car on sale with its own ‘Kia electric car grant’ in anticipation of the EV2 Long Range actually being awarded the money off. 

So it’s actually business as usual. The Standard Range car with its 42.2kWh battery is still on sale with the Band 2 electric grant discount of £1,500, so the entry level car with the smaller battery actually works out £2,750 more expensive than the entry level car with the bigger battery. 

To be fair, Kia does describe the Launch Edition model as “highly specified”, so you do get a reasonable amount for your money – 18in alloys, adaptive LED headlights, privacy glass, heated front seats (electrically adjustable on the driver’s side), keyless go, electric windows front and rear, plus a frunk, much of which is not available on the Air trim car. 

The GT-Line model with the fancier spec is £28,995 and the range topping GT-Line S comes in at a still fairly reasonably £32,595. 

That top spec model comes with very fancy features, like a three-pin plug for charging things off (as well as general V2L capability), a powered tailgate, electric front seats, fancier exterior trim, Harmon Kardon sound system, digital key (on your phone) and remote parking tech. 

It’s also the only model where a heat pump is even an option – which is a bit of a thumbs down across the whole range really. 

Otherwise we are big EV2 fans, and it’s certainly a car that’s worth a good hard look at alongside the likes of the Renault 5 and Volkswagen ID.Polo. 

The EV2 Long Range is available to order from Kia now, but deliveries won't start until later this year.