City undecided on electric cars

Simon Donohue

April 17, 2009

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The AA has welcomed plans fro electric cars

MANCHESTER council is still to decide whether it will bid to become one of the government's electric car pioneers.

The city - which played a leading role in proposals for a congestion charge - says it is too soon to say whether it would be interested in taking part in a £20m scheme to provide plug-in points for battery-powered vehicles at `electric car cities' throughout the country.

Chris Barber, Manchester council's head of engineering services, said: "The council is interested in any proposal that may help us reduce the city's carbon emissions and improve air quality for Manchester residents. We look forward to studying the details of this proposal."

Plans for electric car cities were unveiled as part of a package of measures launched by Business Secretary Lord Mandelson and Transport Secretary Geoff Hoon.

Central to their strategy is a cash incentive of between £2,000 and £5,000 towards buying the first electric and plug-in hybrid cars.

The money will be made available through a £250m scheme designed to deliver `a green motoring transformation' and is part of the wider government support to help consumers and businesses make the transition to low carbon.

It is anticipated that the scheme would reduce dependence on fossil fuels, cut CO2 emissions and help the beleaguered British motor industry by placing it at the forefront of green technological advances.

Lord Mandelson said: "Britain has taken a world lead in setting ambitious targets for carbon reduction.

"Low carbon vehicles will play a key role in cutting emissions.

Ambition

"Government must act now to ensure that the business benefits of this ambition are realised here in the UK.

"We want the British motor industry to be a leader in the low carbon future, and Government must direct and support this, through what I call new industrial activism."

The AA has welcomed plans to stimulate the take-up of electric vehicles in the future.

AA president Edmund King said: "An electric car strategy has the potential to spark a personal transport revolution in UK cities.

"However, if poorly coordinated and implemented, such a strategy could short-circuit itself. For electric vehicles to revolutionise our cities we need infrastructure, incentives, clean electricity and affordable, practical vehicles.

"This announcement is one small step for electric vehicles but we need one massive leap to change the way we travel."

The AA, which already deploys some of its patrols in cities on electric scooters instead of diesel vans, says that such an electric strategy needs comprehensive, step-by-step and joined-up thinking from government.

Above all, it must be relevant to the needs and lifestyles of the people who will use the vehicles which must be affordable.

Calvey Taylor-Haw is the managing director and founder of Elektromotive, a company which has installed and operates 160 road-side charging stations throughout the country.

Mr Taylor-Haw says he has so far been disappointed by Greater Manchester's apparent lack of interest in his charging stations, which cost £6,000 on average to install.

"I think that will change now," he said. "The government seems to be serious about electric vehicles and this is a real opportunity for the country.

"If they are able to encourage Nissan and BMW to build electric cars here, then there is a chance for the UK to become a world leader in some very important technology."

Sue Robinson, director of the Retail Motor Industry, which represents 8,000 traders, said: "This scheme could help the UK build the infrastructure and market for electric cars, but in the short term the industry needs more direct support.

"With consumer confidence low, the adoption of a car scrappage scheme would give a boost to the new car market, and enable motorists to trade in their old cars for new, less polluting vehicles.

"Consumers will look to new cars again, given the right impetus. The RMI is continuing to lobby for the introduction of a scrappage scheme could help revive car sales and remove high-polluting cars from the road at the same time. This scheme is widely supported by car retailers."

The new Megane: See Motoring Pages 44 and 45

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MsD, Manchester (17/04/2009 at 08:48)

They were quick enough to push for the C-charge on the basis of alleviating congestion and cutting emissions. They should be first in the queue for this. Then again, the money won't be rolling in for this like the c-charge will it ?

zarquon, bramhall (17/04/2009 at 11:24)

Am not surprised that the City has not taken up the charging stations...just look at the picture. A flimsy coiled yellow cable to a car probably not even steel wire armoured for strength against vandalism or addressing the possible danger of possible electrocution when wet. The charging station I saw on the news had a 13A plug socket on to provide power....WOW..research and development department is lacking at Elektromotive, then there is the issue of product liability for when the personal injury claims start.

Ace Shakespeare , manchester (17/04/2009 at 11:45)

Why not build charging stations on lamposts (Electric is already on tap)You would only have to work out the output and a socket ect.This way every lamp could become a charging point.Cheaper and simpler way of supplying power for these cars.It would not take much working out for a way to charge people for the use of.

Rammylad (17/04/2009 at 13:08)

Surely MCC will jump at this opourtunity. After the con charge was all about lowering emissions and providing cleaner air. ohhh hang a minute, no it wasn't it was about taxing hard working decent people to leave the roads clear for councillors to run up a £2m bill in taxi fares.

Come on MCC, put you money where you mouth is and embrace this scheme.

Esso Blue. , Manchester. (17/04/2009 at 16:06)

I suppose we have to start somewhere and there is no time like the present.

nyb, ex manc (17/04/2009 at 18:11)

I think this indecision by the City puts the reasons for the congestion charge campaign in to perspective i.e. no money in this for the City coffers.

Sean Corker (17/04/2009 at 21:51)

Electric cars are the future, lets see whether Manchester CC's claims about being forward looking amount anything. I would suspect that the dilemma facing the council is whether backing the electric car contravenes their rabid anti car outlook.

Joe Pub, Manchester (17/04/2009 at 22:36)

Remove all trafic calming feature's bus lanes ect,ect ect, then the air polution will be cleaner, this council have caused more polution with there mad cap brain scheme's.

Rammylad (18/04/2009 at 00:16)

zarquon, bramhall you make some silly comments. Namely you are implying petrol is positively safe. Equally dont forget we all have electric lawn mowers, shavers, underwater pond lights, underwater pumps, outside lights etc etc and we are not all dead are we. A trailing lead does not have to be armoured, equally just because a cable is outside does not mean it has to be armoured. We manage to pull and tug and abuse the petrol tubes without setting fire to everything, I am sure we can manage some elastic trickery.

citycentre, manchester (18/04/2009 at 09:26)

I would think caution wise on the part of the council, after all if they spend millions on something that turns out to be a dead end i think te complaints would come flooding in

zarquon, bramhall (18/04/2009 at 12:10)

Hello Rammylad, my comments on safety might appear to you as silly, however, they are well intentioned. I have not implied petrol is safe, that is your inference, since I make no mention of petrol in my comment. Whilst it is true that we are not all dead, justification of the logic that states that since we are not all dead strengthens your viewpoint on electrical appliance safety is flawed. The adoption in everyday life to the misuse of potentially dangerous equipment can only lead to disaster, there will be those that simply throw caution to the wind, which may impact on others that are innocent to the careless actions of the foolhardy. Design and construction of roadside charging points is an issue of safety first, facility afterwards. Please remember this whilst you use your hairdryer over the bath or whilst probing burned bread from the toaster with a knife.

Ace Shakespeare , manchester (18/04/2009 at 13:37)

We are going to get nuke power stations if we want them or not So why not use electric for the car.Ban all petrol powered cars from the city centre and have only electric cars in the city,this way people who work in the city will either buy electric cars or use public transport. Most people in the city of manchester usually drive less than 50miles a day anyway and most cars that travel around manchster have only one or two people onboard most of the time so why have large cars and people carriers polluting the air in the city.

Joe Pub, Manchester (18/04/2009 at 17:57)

Ace,manchester is a nuclear free city, and nuke is slang for a weapon,If this happen's we can all complain.

Alex (19/04/2009 at 02:36)

If the electricity for these charging points isn't from the only 100% renewable electricity company in the UK (Good Energy), then it's pointless - it's just shifting the problem from our streets to some blighted community already having to put up with pollution from a coal-fired power station, or nuclear-disease-related clusters! The Do it in Their Backyard Brigade!

Yes the government isn't listening to majority opinion or scientific or economic when it comes to new nuclear, coal and airports, but that doesn't mean we should give up trying to stop them! Otherwise we are stealing the chance from our children to live a good life on this planet, and condemning to death more than the 150,000 who already die from climate change each year (World Health Organisation figure for all you head-in-the-sand climate sceptics about to poke your heads out!).

Rammylad (19/04/2009 at 12:43)

zarquon, bramhall

I am not sure if you are aware but almost every street light in the uk is supplioed with 230V of 400V of electricity yet we regularly manage to crash into them without being electrocuted. Electricity can be dangerous but lets not make a mountain out of a worm cast. I used the analogy of petrol for obvious reasons and that is the pump in the picture looks like a petrol pump and we currently use petrol for our cars. Therefore very very relevant.

99.9% of people operate on a daily basis with one eye on the dangers around them, i.e. I do not smoke or use my phone at a petrol station, nor do I try to create fire from a flint and dried wood, why, because I am aware of the danger. Equally the electrical devices for charging cars will be advertised accordingly and 99.9% of people will apply the correct level of care to what they are doing. Firther more it is easy to design a waterproof plug and access point for your car where the electricity only flows when the plug is correctly inserted and where say someone (if we need to go this far), pushes two buttons on the pump (generator) where both hands are required to operate the machine. It's not rocket science people deal with much worse. We have been to the moon you know and all we did was stick a cone on top of 20,000 tonnes of high explosives!

zarquon, bramhall (19/04/2009 at 13:37)

Hello rammylad, am aware about electricity, as I studied it to be an electrical engineer. At petrol pumps the driver stays with the vehicle and oversees the petrol going in, with the charging station, it is designed to be left unattended....big difference. My comment on the design of the charging station was that it used a flimsy yellow wire, like the sort you might see on a hairdryer. This patently is bad design, yet is offered for consultation to spend 20 million on for starters. The company that makes them need to rethink the design before unsuspecting Councillors get public money wasted again. I am in favour of electric cars, but the implementation needs careful consideration not just money throwing at a problem. Not to sure about man landing on the moon...I am certain it was American propaganda to fulfil Kennedy’s statement they’d do it before 1970 but realised it was technically impossible at the time. Moral is...don’t believe politicians!

Ace Shakespeare , manchester (19/04/2009 at 17:02)

Joe Pub, Manchester
Nuke is a shortened version of the word nuclear,Not a weapon .The words you are thinking of is ."nuclear warhead" or "nuclear Bomb" nothing to do with a bomb just the materials that are involved in making them electric,bombs.both nuke powered.

Is It Me? (19/04/2009 at 19:31)

WE have had electric cars for 70 years or more.We used to call them milk floats!

erttd (22/04/2009 at 16:20)

Living on the hills, I can't use an electric car so what benefits are open for me?

we deserve better (22/04/2009 at 16:56)

How long would it take to 'recharge' your car, seconds, minutes, hours? Where would this electricity come from and at what(no doubt inflated)cost?

Electric cars are already obsolete anyway - hydrogen fuel cell technology is the way forward and greener to boot.

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