Top Gear TV s29, ep5: electric city cars and the ice-cream van

ICE CREAM HEADACHE

Who doesn’t love an ice cream van? Apart from, y’know, dentists. And the lactose intolerant. And local councils. And… well, actually turns out quite a lot of people don’t love ice cream vans any more. Which is why they’re dying out, their numbers declining year after year.

But fear not, because Paddy’s got a plan to reinvent the ice cream for the 21st century, in the shape of… Mr Nippy. It’s all-electric. It’s very off-road. It’s equipped with street sweepers, for reasons not entirely clear to the rest of us. Point is, this is the ice cream van to save the ice cream van!

Clearly there was only one location for Paddy to test out his suspiciously massive creation: the balmy seaside town of Blackpool. Less clearly, there was also another location the producers wished Paddy to test out his suspiciously massive creation: a military training village on Salisbury Plain.

THEME IF YOU WANNA GO FASTER

Here’s a question the so-called mainstream automotive media don’t dare to ask: is the new Honda E the best small electric vehicle on sale today… if you’re trapped in the middle of an abandoned theme park and need to reach the exit as quickly as possible? Or would you be better off in one of its battery-powered rivals?

To find the answer to this surprisingly common predicament, the boys commandeered (a) a Honda E, (b) a Mini E, (c) a Vauxhall Corsa-e and (d) Alton Towers.

Click through for more images from episode 5 of series 29, and tune in at 8pm, Sunday 1 November on BBC One and BBC iPlayer