Electric cars given official green light to boost climate change goals
Vehicles run on renewable energy will have a growing part in Britain's climate change battle

Alok Jha
The Observer, Sunday June 22, 2008

Electric cars could play a major role in the shift to environmentally friendly transport, the government will reveal this week. As part of its long-awaited renewable energy strategy, to be published on Thursday, it will argue that there is massive potential in the UK for plug-in hybrids, for car batteries charged on grid electricity and for vehicles powered by hydrogen fuel cells.

The proposal is part of a £100bn scheme to reinvigorate Britain's flagging plans for cutting emissions of carbon dioxide. Developing cars to run on electricity is important because their energy can be derived from renewable energy sources, the strategy points out.

In Israel, which is developing a flourishing electric car industry, there are plans for solar energy to provide the power for charging batteries to run electric vehicles. In the UK, wind or wave generators would be used.

'Fossil fuels are going to run out; we're going to have to be driving electric vehicles,' said Robert Evans, chief executive of Cenex, a government-backed organisation that aims to introduce low-carbon vehicle technology. 'This is such an innovative idea it has caught a high level of imagination across the sector. If the motor industry invests in it, it has a real potential to move quicker than market forces might otherwise dictate.'

Cars currently generate about 20 per cent of the planet's output of carbon dioxide. Cutting that figure would have a big effect on climate change. Electric cars can also use energy to charge batteries at night when demand on the national grid is low.

Local councils, including Westminster, Camden and Islington in London, have already set up a small number of charging points for private electric cars. Evans said interest was growing owing to a combination of incentives, such as free parking, exemption from the congestion charge in London and the recent rises in the price of petrol.

Another trial, run by Mercedes, has distributed all-electric, two-seater Smart cars. The first were delivered to Coventry City Council last December with a view to testing them in urban situations for four years. They can be plugged into the mains and run for 70 miles at up to 60mph on a full charge. 'The aim is to get the data from various trials then make a decision about a production version,' said a spokesman for Mercedes. 'We want to see how the battery performs in real-life situations and what sort of usage patterns these cars have.'

Another scheme is Project Better Place, which is backed by Silicon Valley entrepreneur Shia Agassi. His company has raised £100m so far to set up a network of charging and battery-exchange stations in Israel by 2010. The cars, being developed by Renault-Nissan, are expected to have a range of 140 miles on a full charge with a top speed of 68mph.

The first few thousand cars should be operating within the system by next year and the aim is to put a further 10,000 into the scheme each month in 2010. The cars can be charged or flat batteries can be replaced with a charged one.

However, Geoff Callow, managing director of Turquoise Engineering Consulting, which designs low-carbon technologies for cars, said electric cars will have a future for short journeys within cities, but are not fit for general purposes: 'You certainly can't tow your caravan on holiday for a fortnight.'

Current ideas

· The first electric carriage was invented by Scottish businessman Robert Anderson in the 1830s.

· Electric cars were made by Edison, Studebaker and others in the early 20th century and successfully sold as town cars to upper-class customers and as vehicles suitable for women drivers due to their clean, quiet and easy operation.

· General Motors introduced a range of battery-powered cars, including the Electrovair in 1966 and the Electrovette.

· In 1985 Clive Sinclair's C5 one-seater electric tricycle is ridiculed in the press and fails to entice buyers.

· Since the late 1980s, electric vehicles have been promoted in the US, through the use of tax credits, as zero emission vehicles (ZEVs).