Electric cars are the greatest thing since sliced bread – everybody says so.

The Chevrolet Volt has just been named North American Car of the Year thanks to its winning combination of innovation, design and driver satisfaction, among other things.

Judges were falling over themselves to gush about the car which maker General Motors said “represented the soul” of the new GM.

It follows hot on the emission-free trail of the Nissan Leaf which scooped the European Car of the Year crown in November.

I can’t help thinking all this is a little too cosy. After all, the US government bailed out a bankrupt GM and clearly hit it over the corporate head with a green hammer until its “soul” changed from a good ol’ V8 to a battery pack. Now, somehow, the Volt wins the country’s top award.

And our own Government has bent over backwards to accommodate Nissan so that it would build the Leaf in Sunderland, guaranteeing hundreds of jobs.

But is it worthy of being Car of the Year?

After all, this is a car that is capable of just 100 miles before it needs charging up again at plug-in points, which are still as rare as hen’s teeth, despite a handful being pioneered in Oxford this week.

It seems to have relatively basic equipment and the performance is no more than average, while I get the impression this technology is still very much in development.

And then you have to fork out £24,000 which includes a £5,000 Government supplement. For that you can get a BMW 3 Series.

So you can’t go very far, it costs a packet and it’s not exactly fully loaded (presumably because it wears the battery down).

If the Alfa Romeo’s Giulietta been considered for Car of the Year boasting that lot, it would have been laughed out of town.

But the beautifully designed and conventionally powered Giulietta came second to a vehicle with technology two steps ahead of a milk float.

And if you think I’m wrong just ask Rolls Royce, who have also been considering an electric car.

This week they said it would be “wrong for the brand and wrong for our customers” without exploring all the options.

Don’t expect an electric Roller soon. Imagine the size of the battery.