Weekly poll (16/04/09)

[UKFF Mod]

The poll for the newsletter next week concerns a news story that has just broken today.

The government are very kindly offering 'up to' £5000 off electric cars that will cost a fair bit in the first place (unless you only want to go no further than 20 miles at 25mph)

Alternatively, you could look upon all this as a good thing and a good way to help the environment.

Where does your vote lie?

[The SMG]

Originally Posted by FLSM Mod

The poll for the newsletter next week concerns a news story that has just broken today.

The government are very kindly offering 'up to' £5000 off electric cars that will cost a fair bit in the first place (unless you only want to go no further than 20 miles at 25mph)

Alternatively, you could look upon all this as a good thing and a good way to help the environment.

Where does your vote lie?

I wonder if I'd still be able to claim 40p per mile if I used an electric car?

G

[Chorltonwheeler]

They're offering 'early adopters' £5k off cars produced by a motor industry taking its first tentative steps into an electric marketplace - you can guarantee that their learning curve will be steep and the first models won't be the ones everyone wants to drive around in come 2012. The first ones will cost an absolute fortune too. All the R&D has to be accounted for somehow.

[Beefy198]

How green can a car be if they still need to generate electricity for it in the first place?

I also noted with interest the phrase 'up to'. Knowing this government you'll only get the full amount if you're unemployed and never worked more than a week in your life.

[Beefy198]

Originally Posted by Chorltonwheeler

you can guarantee that their learning curve will be steep and the first models won't be the ones everyone wants to drive around in come 2012.

Niiiiiice

[Chorltonwheeler]

I'm 6ft 5in - do you think they do a cabriolet?

[curleyted]

If you have a laptop or mobile phone the battery life often degrades significantly. What happens when the same happens to your car battery? I've heard they're quite expensive.

[Chorltonwheeler]

Researchers at MIT have managed to produce virus-built batteries - could be a potentially low cost and environmentally friendly way to power these cars in the future. http://www.inhabitat.com/2009/04/07/...d-car-battery/

[CrazyMoose]

Originally Posted by Chorltonwheeler

Researchers at MIT have managed to produce virus-built batteries - could be a potentially low cost and environmentally friendly way to power these cars in the future. http://www.inhabitat.com/2009/04/07/...d-car-battery/

Incredible - I wonder if we'd still get 40 per mile tax free from Hector running cars on these batteries. If it's any more than 50p per mile I'm putting myself down on the pre-order list.

[Beefy198]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8114470.stm

The government are missing the point. They're trialling this in several cities, but neglecting rural areas.

Why's that important? Because they'll need to test just how useful this is in the countryside as well. I know more people live in the cities and are more likely to be near an electricity hook up point.... but that's the point. You're going to have plenty of people that think "I can't ditch the petrol motor, if I go out of town on holiday or for a day trip I might not get home again!"

Just trialling it in 8 cities proves nothing. They should have looked into trialling it in a rural area as well, maybe one near one of the test cities so they could if that affected people's driving habits.