The Real Costs And Dangers Of Electric Cars
Friday, 11. March 2011
Image by Getty Images via @daylife
Even though we know the Government is hell bent on converting us to electric cars I’m still not convinced. When it was announced that the Government was going to put £5,000 across the bonnet of electric cars to encourage drivers to buy them and Boris was going to put a free electric charging point in every parking bay making it the world’s leading city for drivers of Electric Cars it all sounded rather nice and clean and friendly.
Unless of course you are a pedestrian. One of the factors that doesn’t seem to have been so carefully considered is noise or rather the lack of noise being created by the electric cars that would start killing off the populace as they crossed the road with Queen blasting their ears from their iPod in the vague hope that the rumble of a diesel engine would just about peak the strains of Freddie Mercury.
No chance with an electric car wedged between your legs! Of course when the Government decided to give away £5,000 per car they hadn’t been told that electric cars would cost twice the amount, nay 3 times the amount of a conventional equivalent making it about expensive to own a Nissan Leaf as it does a reasonably sized house! Boris’s aim to install 25,000 charging points has been scaled down, as a result of the shambles that the economy is in, to 1,300, just a small drop and the ‘free to run’ electric car that many were trumpeting about is looking very highly unlikely.
Let’s see what you have to do and what it costs. There are 347 charging points in the whole of the UK (90 outside London). In order to use them you have to register with the council on whose ground the charging point sits on. In one London council, Camden, you will need to join Elektromotive at a cost of £120 in the first year and £36 thereafter. For this you receive a cable and a key.
The electricity is free! Hooray! But you have to register with the council at a cost of £52.50 per annum (free if you buy your home energy on a renewable energy tariff). You can then charge your car ‘for free’ for 3 hours, after which you must move on to another point! If you are closer to Central London you will get 4 hours charging and free parking in council run car parks but you must pay an admin fee of £307.50 + VAT. The really good news is that you have no congestion charge.
Oh but you still have to register and that will cost £10 a year. Boris has said that he will be introducing a £100 a year card that will enable holders to top up anywhere in London – but then he said that he would have 25,000 charging points and will end up with 1,300! Don’t hold your breath! Do you drive an electric car? Tell us how good it is and if you ever run out of juice? By Graham Hill
Related articles
- Is the grid ready for electric cars? (cbc.ca)
Jas Johal Says:
Hi,
Nice post! As an envinronmental and energy consultant, I can see both benefits and drawbacks of EV and hybrid vehicles. Any thoughts on the embodied energy used to create and dispose of the batteries in 10-20 years time?!