Mr Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London, in a move towards an eco-friendly city, announced recently that he wants to have some 1,300 charge points for electric cars around London. He recently introduced bike rentals to London. Now Boris Johnson is trying to bring us around to a new way of thinking in London where driving is concerned. Cyclists and electric car drivers are definitely in vogue.
We will have to wait and see how this will work. The bike rental scheme runs at a loss, as does the buses and underground. It will also be interesting to see if most Londoners take up the challenge of buying an electric car especially if they want to visit family up North and the car runs out of power half way up the M1. Car insurance companies give deals to those with electric cars and comparing them to traditional petrol or diesel cars should give some indication of the opinion of eco-friendly motoring from the perspective of the motoring industries.
A large proportion of London’s pollution comes from motor vehicles. If the capital went green then we could see London becoming the most eco friendly City in the world. For those of you who are worried about global warming and depreciating natural resourses this is great news. In America, there are financial incentives for going electric, from rebates to tax credits and free parking and even free recharges.
However, the problem with electric is that you can’t get very far. If you drive more than 100 miles even the best and latest electric car may fail you. The Mayor of London may in fact only supply these charge points to inner London, so for those driving outside that area, running out of charge may be a real problem and may in fact leave drivers stranded randomly around London.
So if you are one of the millions who live in London and you’re thinking about switching vehicles, perhaps it’s best to go for a hybrid car first. You will get the moral boost from driving an eco-friendly car, but you are not likely to get stranded if you can’t find a charge point. If the whole city takes up Boris Johnsons offer then I fear that 1,300 charge points will not be enough.