For two decades manufacturers have been trying to create electric cars that are more practical, cost-effective, and attractive to the average consumer.

The Oli is not following that beaten path, but rather is described as a "laboratory of ideas," which Citroen hope trickle down into other automobiles, but also help push the concept of the car, such as it is, along.

In science-fiction movies, cars always take on a dozen of additional roles that would never be found in a car today. In the new TV version of Lost in Space their car becomes a mobile communications hub, and an escape pod capable of traveling through space.

The Oli "concept car" attempts to replicate that, not least of which because of its near-military appearance with the flat windscreen and boxy bonnet.