Nissan didn’t change much from the source material when it came to developing the new Micra, so it’s no surprise to hear that like the Renault 5, the longer range version of the Japanese car has also qualified for the full £3,750 of the UK government’s electric car grant. 

It’s not simply that the cars are basically the same, they are in fact made on the same assembly line at a Renault factory in northern France, using a 52kWh battery pack sourced in Europe.  

The 40kWh version of the car, like the Renault 5, is only eligible for the £1,500 Band 2 grant, closing up the price list somewhat. (And the new version of Nissan's Leaf was also announced as qualifying for the full grant back in November...)

So what does that mean for the prices? There are three trim levels on the new Micra – Engage, Advance and Evolve. The 40kWh car is only available in the first two specs, starting at £21,495 for the Engage and bumping to £23,495 for the Advance. 

The 52kWh version of the car is only available in the top two specs, which means £23,245 for the Advance (cheaper, you’ll note) and £26,115 for the Evolve model. 

​Nissan has also released details of monthly PCP costs for the car (over four years/24,000 miles and with a £1,500 deposit), which starts at £293 a month for the Engage 40kWh and tops out at £372 for the Evolve 52kWh. 

Somewhat controversially, the Advance is £311 a month for the 40kWh car and £333 for the 52kWh car despite the latter being cheaper if you buy cash. Is the longer range car going to be worth less come trade in? We doubt it very much, and that's £1,056 more over the 48-month term. 

We did draw attention to the Renault 5’s finance deals changing after the car’s eligibility for the £3,750 grant was announced – it’s understandable that there has to be some delineation between models within a range, but the plug-in grant is supposed to make things cheaper for buyers.