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60 electric car chargers go in
David Williams, Motoring Editor31.12.07
Free electric car charging points are being installed across central London.
Westminster council is putting in 10 roadside posts following a trial of two in Covent Garden. About another 50 will be installed in 13 of its car parks.
Alan Bradley, Westminster's cabinet member for street environment, said: "We are leading the way in encouraging greener forms of car travel which will help minimise our impact on the environment. We want to make it as practical and convenient as possible for people to use electric cars, so having charging points easily available on streets is an essential move."
There are more than 900 owners of a G-Wiz electric car in London. The Nice car company sells the electric MEGA City and the three-wheel ZAP Xebra was launched this month.
Each charging post installed by Westminster costs £3,000, funded by Transport for London, the Energy Savings Trust and EDF Energy.
Users have to register with the council and pay a one-off fee to cover administration costs after which charging is free.
Reader views (13)
Congratulations Westminster, why not replace all the old redundant parking meters with charging points!
The average C02 from cars is approx 160 g / C02 / km. That’s just for running the vehicle, and does not take into account the C02 produced in production of the fuel.
The C02 released as a result of producing electricity from the national grid to run an electric vehicle equates to approx 60 g / C02 / km- a significant reduction.
So this is not a like for like comparison even, as it does not take into account of the C02 generated by producing the Petrol; drilling, refining and transporting.
A like for like comparison is called Well to Wheel….
When charging an electric vehicle you have a choice of buying the electricity from a renewable source.
Current batteries are simple, clean and cost effective to recycle as the price of metals increases.
Drive Electric!
- Izzy Smith, London UK
Alternatives to oil dependency has to start somewhere; further down the track these posts can easily be powered by renewable sources - this is most likely part 2 in a 2-step plan by the council.
Don't be so pessimistic. It may be winter up there and summer down here but that's no need to perpetuate the view that the English are grumpy naysayers.
- Chris, Adealide, Australia
The three comments above show how well the car manufacturers are doing
with their anti-electric car brain washing policy. Electric cars are on average
three times more efficient in their use of energy than conventional cars, and
produce zero emmisions at the kerbside, which is of course where these nasty
pollutants do the most damage to the occupants of our cities, and of course
our children are the most vulnerable along with the old and infirm.
Of course power production produces emmisions and contaminants, but these
are much easier to control and reduce at the point of generation than by controlling the emissions of the millions of vehicles that clog up our roads.
So the next time all you petrolheads jump into your gas guzzeling 4x4´s for
a cruise down the Kings Road, a worthwhile thought is that only 18 to 20%
of the precious fuel you have put in your tank is actually being used to push
you along, the rest goes in heat and friction and the like, hardly very sexy
is it! And not much too show for nearly a hundred years of contiuous development by our friends in the auto industry.
Me give me a Gwizz anyday, hats off to westminster council may there be many
more charging points in the future !
- Andrew Rose, Besozzo, Italia
Electric cars just move the pollution from the tailpipe to the power plant, right? Wrong.
Numerous studies show that electrical generation and transmission is much less polluting for a car than gasoline. Part of it is that the electric motor is much more efficient than an internal combustion engine. Add to that the fact that most electric cars charge at night using off-peak electricity and that adds to the efficiency. To top it off, even including coal-fired plants, EVs are still less polluting than gasoline cars. Finally, electricity allows for a diversity of energy resources, including solar, wind and hydro.
- Alex Campbell, Santa Rosa, California
I am surprised by many of the comments regarding the new charging stations. I guess none of you have heard that England plans to add 30 megawatts of new wind energy by 2020. This will amount to 50 percent of your electrical power. This does not include the wave and tidal power that is planned for your country. I presume that electricity is cheaper than petrol. In America it would cost about 3 cents per mile for electricity while gasoline is about 14 cents per mile. The air pollution from internal combustion engines produces about twenty percent more CO2 than from coal fired power plants. Remember, only five percent of the energy from an internal combustion engine actually powers your car forward. The rest of the energy is disapated as heat. It is not very efficient. Electric cars can convert up to 90 percent of the battery energy to propulsion.
- Alvin, Clayton , Mo USA
So now electric car drivers get free fuel? Because let's not forget that the electricity has to come from somewhere - a coal-fired power station, in many cases. Just because the car isn't polluting doesn't mean there isn't pollution further up the chain (not to mention the resources used in the manufacturing of the car in the first place). What about the people who *really* play the "green" game and rely totally on public transport? Where is our free or discounted travel? We just seem to see fares going up and up.
- Freya, London
Green my asp!
Wool being pulled over your eyes again!
60*3000= £180K, that is hardly money well spent is it, some people must think these cars don't pollute, yet they are charged up via a dirty great power station somewhere and have very inefficient polluting batteries.
Whilst China knocks out a filthy coal fired power every other week!
The G wizz costs a fair packet, is normally seen driven by luvvies around Soho!
See them all parked up being charged in some Soho car parks, with big fluorescent lights above them.
Another waste of money and energy.
- John P, London, England
I'd love it if people stopped to think about where the electricity to charge these cars up comes from. This isn't green, it's just passing the pollution buck on to somewhere else. On top of that manufacturing and disposing of batteries is incredibly bad for the environment.
- Paul, London
Great green policy by Westminster Council. Top leading politicians. Well done.
- David, London UK
Excellent idea - the equivalent of free fuel, a very helpful move in cleaning up the air in central London.
- David L, London
I think the UK will pass up the USA and other countries in taking a leadership role in being friendly to the planet. Way to go!
- Oilfreeworld, USA
The last time I checked, 'Electricity' wasn't a source of fuel - merely a store of energy. You still have to produce it, which, last time I looked, tended to involve burning oil, digging coal and a whole host of other CO2 emitting processes. Good old joined up thinking from Westminster then.
- Gareth Thomas, London
Wow, We need a couple of those here in USA. Any chance they could install one for us?
(SOME of us here believe in GREEN)
- Jon Vickers, USA
