Haven’t updated the ol’ blog in a while – usual pathetic excuses etc. Thought I’d better though otherwise this website will end up as one of these!
So – the government is planning to give us a £5,000 subsidy to buy an electric car with. Woo hoo. I’ll admit to being in a quandary on this one, because on one hand I hate internal combustion engines and on the other I love them…
Hate : Noisy, smelly, clutter up streets, ruin otherwise nice places, traffic jams, too many of them, mostly mundane and functional junk, 4×4s, appalling driving from most, boy racers ’round estates, buses and lorries, motorways, tool booths, traffic jams, company car drivers, reps, white vans, did I mention traffic jams?
Love : Noise (we’re talking a full moo on a track day in something fruity), POWER!, speed, exhilaration, oversteer, freedom, cool looks, more oversteer, twitching curtains, elegance and class (in something special), modifying/tweaking, an empty B-Road, rear wheel drive, my own little private domain, decent stereo and time to enjoy it, did I mention oversteer?
So what difference is an electric car going to make?
I’m not sold on the whole Co2 debate, and all an electric car is doing is moving the Co2 emissions from the exhaust pipe back to the coal station (unless by some miracle our country gets off its backside, stops faffing about with wind and wave energy and sorts out a series of decent nuclear power stations). So lets forget the ‘environmental’ agenda.
The biggest plus I see is less noise. Having cars go past at low speed in eerie silence actually sounds quite nice with my pipe, slippers and dog walking persona in full swing. At higher speed tyre roar becomes more significant, nullifying the effects of the engine. On the negative side, driving a car that doesn’t go BBBBUURRRRRRRIIIIIIIIINNNNNNZZZZZZZZVVVVVVFFSSSSTTTT through the gears will be utterly dull. No score draw then.
Economy? Well, my diesel Audi TDI does 55mpg and has a 600mile range. Can’t see any electric car managing both of those in the near future. Maybe higher mpg, but that’s useless without range. Points to the internal combustion engine (ICE).
Fill up time? I can fill up the ol’ TDI in about 5 minutes. Not likely to match that with a 3 pin plug. Points to the ICE.
Numbers on the road? Can’t see it making any difference. Until a decent alternative is provided in the form of cheap, reliable public transport (i.e. never) we’ll continue having far too many cars on the road. No score draw.
Style, sophistication, elegance? Well, the vast majority of electric cars look absolutely pants, however there is cautious optimism in the form of the Tesla, which I would definitely not say no to, but it’s the exception rather than the rule right now. Lets be fair though, the drivetrain shouldn’t ultimately affect aethestics too badly, it may even improve them given we won’t need some of the under bonnet gubbins. Cautious nod to electric here then.
Fun. The Achilles heel of electric cars? Maybe, maybe not. Sure an electric car is not going to make the same noises, but I’ve had loads of fun in bumper cars and battery powered go-karts. The Tesla outran a Lotus Elise on Topgear, so there’s definitely hope. All the tyres, suspension, wheel etc remains as before, so it’s not like the modification side of the house will disappear. No score draw.
As for the rest, not much change, and I can’t see electric engines getting into Vans, buses and LGVs any time soon, so we’ll still have that to put up with.
So how much are we talking then? Brand new, a full loaded Toyota Prius is £21,210, take off the £5,000 we we have £16,210, and you can only buy a new car with that. Even new you can buy a much nicer car than a Prius, and factor in 1-2 year old cars and the point is rammed home further.
Another daft scheme from the government, wasting money which ought to be spent on everyone, on those who have cash to spare to indulge.
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