Are Electric Cars Really The Way Forward?

Thursday, 27. August 2009

First Hybrid cars that mix n match petrol power with battery power and now all electric cars, heavily supported by prime minister Mandleson, that will save the planet and will be the future, must have, green accessory! Oh no it won’t! Well not if the already frugal Citroen C1, modified by the Electric Car Corporation, continues to cover just 70 miles on a full battery and at a cost of £16,850, twice the cost of the standard petrol version. No way Jose? Having said that Bosch predict worldwide sales of 500,000 by 2015 or is that just wishful thinking? The prices will still be far too high but they feel that there will be enough buyers at the inflated prices of between £7,000 and £10,000 to make the cars just about affordable. As major manufacturers jump on the bandwagon prices are expected to tumble but with current technology (get it – current – look I don’t just throw these together you know) requiring a lithium battery weighing in at 250kg to cover 125 miles at a cost of £14,500 it still has quite a way to go. Having said that I have two very serious questions. Firstly, has anyone spoken to Duracell? I mean one of their little batteries can keep a toy pig running about for months, surely a car only needs a bit bigger battery for the same result? Secondly, look around at 3.00 in the morning. There are electric milk floats racing around in all directions carrying the equivalent weight in milk bottles of a football team and only running low on power 3 or 4 hours after it set off from the dairy. And they’ve been doing this for as long as I’ve been alive! So why do we seem to have taken a technological step back? By Graham Hill