The first Chinese cars have quietly sneaked into the British Motor Show at Excel - in fact silently, as they’re electric cars.

Two of the pioneering green car distributors that took large display areas at Excel both had electric conversions of Chinese-built city cars on their stands.

Quiet Car Company, based in Lymington, showed a battery-electric conversion of the Chinese Hafei Lobo five-door hatchback.

Priced at £12,995, the Pininfarina-styled Quiet Car 2 has Lithium batteries offering a range of around 65 miles on a five-hour charge.

Top speed is only 50mph, but QCC claims 100 miles of driving will add just £1 to owners' household electricity bill.

It has opened order books, with deliveries to start around October or November.

NICE Car Company – whose name stands for No Internal Combustion Engine – premiered its own Chinese-made five-door hatchback electric vehicle, the Ze-O.

Bertone-styled Ze-O is a version of the Changhe Ideal, a car introduced in China in 2006, with lead-acid batteries providing a 60-mile range and a 55mph top speed. Lithium-Ion versions with longer range will follow.

It’ll come to the UK before the year-end, said NICE, priced around £14,000.