Spare a thought for those trying to sell electric cars in Germany then, where buyers are traditionally even more conservative in their tastes.

To this end, BMW has taken the very Germanic, no-nonsense step of telling his countrymen to "get over it" and drop their fear of electric vehicle technology.

According to Bloomberg, BMW CEO Norbert Reithofer has told his fellow Germans they should put aside their fears of the unknown and embrace electric vehicles.

“Germany is respected and admired the world over for its engineering expertise and powers of innovation, but ‘German angst’ is also a concept the rest of the world is familiar with.