Ridden: Vectrix Maxi

It's a bad time to be a gas guzzler. The green lobby hates you, the government taxes you and now the London mayor wants to charge you £25 for daring to enter the capital.

But I'm feeling smug today. Riding the silent, electric Vectrix scooter, I'm making virtually carbon-free progress and loving every minute.

Please forgive me if all this eco self-righteousness has gone to my head a bit. Motoring journalists are the polluting pariahs and in the eyes of the green lobby; we're up there with coal-fired power stations, short-haul flights and Americans. But not today, because I've got the words 'ZERO CARBON' in bold yellow letters plastered along my fairing, nobody can mistake my green credentials. So with petrol sitting pretty at over £5 a gallon, what does it cost to ride green?

Obviously electricity isn't free but charging a Vectrix is surprisingly cheap, in fact, it will cost you less than the price of boiling a kettle for a cup of tea. I'd certainly need more than a cup of tea if I was going to cycle 60 miles, which is about how far you'll get on a full charge. In theory you've got a range of nearly 70 miles but in practice this figure is fairly negotiable. Wring the throttle and your range plummets on the clever computerised LCD screen. Alternatively, spare the disc brakes and twist the throttle backwards as you slow down and the regenerative braking system actually charges the battery on the move.

The Vectrix plugs into any standard three-point socket so access to a power source is never difficult. Even if you live on the 15th floor of a block of flats there are currently over 120 free charge points across London, and every NCP car park now boasts a charge point. Imagine 120 free petrol pumps; you'd be entering the magical kingdom of dreamland. Because batteries don't recharge at a constant rate, the first 75% charges much quicker than the last 25% (this is exactly the same on your mobile phone or laptop).

In practice this means that after about an hour and a half the Vectrix is nearly at 75% capacity (or a range of around 30-40 miles). It takes another hour to charge the last 25%; so it's less than 3 hours in total for a full charge. Battery buffs get your anoraks on. The MAXI houses the latest Nickel Metal Hydride batteries, packing 125 volts with a rated capacity of 3.7kw-h. Non-battery buffs it's time to join the real world once more. What this means in reality is you've got some pretty serious AA Duracell under your tank, capable of 1,700 charges and with a projected lifespan of 10 years.

The Vectrix has a cavernous storage space under the pillion seat that will comfortably fit a heft lock and a full face helmet, or about three full bags of shopping. Buying a Vectrix isn't cheap, in fact the £6,930 retail price would buy you a Honda Silver Wing with ABS and enough money spare for two years insurance. Vectrix argues that in the long term you will save money on fuel, insurance and servicing. But unfortunately most people don't look to the long term, hence the fact the ice caps are melting in the first place.

So the Vectrix is more expensive than petrol powered scooters but then the build quality is a lot higher. For your cash you get Pirelli tyres, Marzocchi front forks, Sachs shocks and Brembo brakes - that spec sheet wouldn't look out of place on a Ducati 1098S. The Vectrix will accelerate as quickly as most 250cc motorcycles and scooters. It handles better than any 250cc scooter I've ever ridden and the brakes are firm, predictable and progressive. There's some really classy features from the sumptuous twin leather seat (the comfiest pillion seat on any motorcycle my passenger reliably informed me), the chrome body panels and the dashboard packed with more coloured flashing lights than a warehouse rave.

But the one subtle little feature that really impressed me was the under-seat spring. On most scooters, when you raise the seat for the storage compartment there's nothing to stop if falling back down and locking. Sounds fairly obvious but can be a real pain when you're juggling a shopping bag and a helmet in one hand and a key and a chain lock in the other. But the Vectrix has a spring that tautens when the seat is raised and prevents it from slamming shut. Simply tap the spring from the side and it slackens and the seat drops. It's so simple, it's so ingenious and is a perfect example of the meticulous nature and talent of the American designers.

People are naturally suspicious of anything new and so I think there's a lot of people just waiting for the Vectrix to fail and are busy inventing reasons why an electric motor won't work for them. But the technology does work. Most journeys we make are under five miles and, if you do commute more than 50 miles to work in the morning then perhaps it's time to consider moving. Vectrix has been brave and it has produced a viable, perhaps even superior, alternative to the petrol scooter and it deserves to succeed.